Young Hearts
by Le Hiddleslover
Summary: What would you do if you met someone form the past? From 1914! Rosa loves history, it's her passion; she loves to learn things about the past but what she never expected to learn about was a handsome cavalry officer from the first world war. Rated T just incase. Capt. NichollsxOC
1. Captain?

_**Ok, so I felt like I had to write this, to make a complete twist to the War Horse story somehow -.- I didn't really want to go along with the proper story line too much, (perhaps I will incorporate it in somehow throughout the story c;) ... Mainly because I bawled my eyes out when Captain Nicholls died D; I thought there should be a story where he survived, because he is awesome and played by Tom Hiddleston**_

_**ANYWAYS... tell me what ya think of it :)**_

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CHAPTER ONE:

"And…. First one with their hand up," The greying man at the front of the classroom began "What date did the Great war begin?" He asked, quickly scanning the classroom and pointing his index finger at the first person with their hand up (That he saw).

"The first world war began on the twenty eighth of July nineteen fourteen, sir" The young student replied.

"And on which date did it end?" He asked, quizzically.

"The war ended on the twenty eighth of June, 1919 with the signing of the Armistice which went into effect at eleven a.m that day," The girl said. The teacher smiled in approval at his student and looked around at the rest of the students; whom had their eyes set on the girl.

"This is an example of a committed student; if you are passionate about this course then you will learn every date, every time of every event that history has made significant; or you will not pass!" He bellowed, causing all eyes to focus away from the girl and back on him.

Just after his last sentence he dismissed the class, noting the time on the clock. The greying man asked for the girl who answered his question to remain behind.

"You are a very bright student, Rosa Miller," He began, shuffling papers on his desk. The girl, Rosa, hoisted her backpack higher onto her shoulder, trying to ease the weight a little, but causing some of her blonde hair to get trapped under the strap.

"I have been marking your papers and I must say, what you have written is amazing! At the beginning of this year my expectations were quite high for my history class but the work you have set forth has gone above and beyond those expectations," He continued. Rosa smiled and thanked the man.

"What are you planning to do when you finish the course?" He asked, sitting down on the chair behind his large wooden desk.

"I haven't the slightest clue, sir, I took this course for my love of history and eagerness to learn more information but also because I didn't want to leave high school," Rosa admitted.

The teacher nodded and drummed his fingers against each other. He pulled out a leaflet from a drawer behind his desk and handed it to her.

"This may give you some ideas about what you could do with history as a career," He said. Rosa took the leaflet and thanked him, exiting the room, but before she was out of sight the teacher called out:

"You are a very talented student; don't let your work go to waste!"

Rosa sighed as she sat down in her car. She rested her head against the steering wheel and smiled slightly. The school year was finally over; she had passed her exams and was now free to do as she pleased. But what would she do?

Rosa took the leaflet off the empty passenger seat and looked over it.

"Well, you could become a teacher Rosa; why not pass on some knowledge?" She smirked to herself. She did like the idea of passing on knowledge to others, but she didn't like the idea of being around snotty teenagers; she had experienced enough of that in high school.

Rosa started her car and put it into drive. She just wanted to go home to her apartment and finish the book she was reading about the Russian revolution.

However, as she backed out of the car park, someone decided to walk right in front of her car. The car jolted to a stop as the person slammed against the end of the car.

Rosa jumped out of her car as fast as she could undo the seat belt holding her in place. She found the person lying on the ground behind her car, groaning slightly.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" She asked, kneeling down beside the man. Rosa looked him over. He had light brown hair, high cheekbones and thin but soft looking lips and his eyes; when he looked into hers she couldn't tear her gaze away. The man had the sweetest blue eyes that she had ever seen; they were like the sky, if you lay down and simply stared at it on a cloudless day you would feel yourself disappear into the vast blueness of it.

"I think I will be alright," He sighed and lifted himself up on one arm, drawing his knees towards his body, which Rosa noticed was very long when stretched out on the ground.

"Don't get up too fast, you may have hit your head, god, I am so sorry, you just appeared from out of nowhere! I swear I checked all my mirrors," Rosa said, putting a hand around his upper arm to help him up.

Rosa noticed that there was something very strange about this man. He was wearing what looked like a soldier's uniform. It was a pale green colour; he also had a sword tucked into a holster at his hip.

"What is your name, madam?" He asked, curiously looking around the empty parking lot.

"Rosa Miller, what's yours?" She asked. The man looked back to her, he seemed lost.

"Captain James Nicholls," He stated. Rosa's brow furrowed.

"Captain?" She asked. The man nodded.

"Yes, may I ask, Miss Miller; where am I?" He asked, looking around again.

"Great Britain, of course; London to specific," Rosa said

"It all looks so different," He frowned.

"Would you like me to drive you anywhere? I think I owe you something, having hit you with my car," Rosa chuckled lightly. The man looked back at her with a worried expression.

"I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be in the army, we have a practice cavalry charge in the morning," He said, seriously.

"The army doesn't have cavalry anymore, after world war one, they stopped using horses because they weren't affective against machine guns," Rosa explained. The man's eyebrows arched.

"_After_ World War One?" He asked "Are we not in the middle of it, Miss Miller?" He added. Rosa shook her head and slightly stepped away from the man.

"No, that war ended in 1919 and was then followed by the second world war in 1939 which ended in 1945," Rosa said. The man locked his eyes with hers.

"And what is today's date?" He asked concern laced with the tenderness of his voice.

"It is the eighteenth of December 2012," Rosa said. The man looked shocked. He literally flinched.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm supposed to be in the year 1914, how did I jump almost a century into the future?" He whispered. Rosa felt a little concerned now. She didn't know this guy and he was acting really strange. She felt a sudden urge to just get in her car and drive off, but her mind told her to stay put and help the guy out.

"Who exactly are you?" Rosa asked, just to clarify things.

"Captain James Nicholls, I'm an officer in the British cavalry, Ma'am," He said. Rosa sighed.

"Well, I'm guessing you don't have anywhere to go at the moment, since you don't know where you are or how you got here," Rosa said. The lost captain nodded and looked around once more before locking his gaze once again with Rosa's.

Rosa had to look away from the man, his stare made her blush. She looked to her small black car and sighed.

"Well, as long as you aren't some strange, ancient, psycho killer; I guess all I can offer you at the moment is a place to stay and someone to talk to," Rosa smirked.

"You would let me reside with you?" He asked, taken aback. Rosa shrugged.

"Well, yeah; I did run you over with my car and you seem pretty lost, I would feel bad just leaving you here, it's the least I could do," she said. The man smiled and looked to the ground, frowning as he did so. He bent down and picked up a cap that was the same shade of green as his uniform coat.

"Thank you for your kindness and understanding, Miss Miller," He smiled and looked back to her for the millionth time since they met. He was just too polite.

"Call me Rosa, you make me feel like an old person," She laughed, the man, surprising joined in.

"Alright then, and I shall ask you to call me James," He said. Rosa nodded and gestured to her car.

"Well, James, shall we go then?" She asked. James nodded and approached the car. It must have been a real upgrade to the cars during his era Rosa thought to herself.

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_**Review! :)**_


	2. Modern

CHAPTER TWO:

This world is strange, I don't recall how I got here, I can't even remember what I was doing before this woman hit me with her car; that I was now sat in. I am so grateful for her hospitality and kindness towards me; she seems willing to help me understand, even though she doesn't understand herself.

As Miss Miller drove her car down the streets, I looked out at the city of London; so much had changed since I was there last. The city itself looked more alive and newer than I had ever seen it in all my years of living there.

I was so engrossed with the scenery of the city that I didn't hear Miss Miller speak at first. I turned my head to look at her. She had her eyes on the road in front of her, but she briefly flicked her gaze between there and me.

"What were you doing before you ended up behind my car?" Rosa asked "Surely you must remember something?" She added. I shook my head.

"All I recall is that I was setting out my uniform for our practice charge that was to take place in the morning, other than that after that I haven't a single idea of what I was doing," I sighed. Where had time gone? Why was I even here? HOW did I get here is the biggest question of all.

"Hmm, well, perhaps you may remember more in the morning? Maybe you just need to eat and sleep on it, no one officially loses their memory, it is just stored away in a part of the brain that you can't quiet unlock when you want to," Rosa shrugged. She was so reassuring, I felt like I could trust her.

It had begun to get dark as we continued to drive through London. I continued to look out the window. Every so often Miss Miller would ask me something and I would return my attention to her. She was a pretty woman, her blond hair sat just around her elbows and her deep brown eyes almost looked black; her skin was a nice suntanned shade but what I found most interesting about the woman was her accent, it was not British.

"May I ask why you do not have a British accent?" I asked her, trying my best not to sound rude as I had no intention to be rude towards her.

To my surprise, Miss Miller laughed!

"I am from America, that's why, I came to London for further education after I finished high school," Rosa explained.

"Oh, travelling to Britain by ship takes a very long time," I pointed out. Rosa laughed even harder.

"Oh boy, there is a lot that you need to catch up on if you are going to survive in this time period," She said. How much did I miss out on? I thought.

We arrived at Rosa's apartment. It was a plain building, nothing like some of the other, newer buildings in the centre of the city.

"Well, welcome to my place," She smirked and unlocked the front door. Upon entering the building I realised that there certainly was a lot that I had missed out on. Strange appliances were scattered around the main room. On a short wooden table on the opposite side of the room there was a strange black rectangular box. On the wall was another strange rectangle, but it was a lot smaller than the one sitting on the wooden table.

The walls were a plain off-white colour and the curtains framing the windows behind the strange black box were black. The sofa in front of the black box was also strange, it was plump and looked very comfortable compared to the sofa I had in my personal barrack.

"Would you like me to show you around?" Rosa chuckled. I didn't realise that I was just staring at everything.

"Yes, that would be nice," I replied after a moment. I followed Miss Miller down a small hallway.

"This is the bathroom," She said, pointing to the first room on the left of the hall. I nodded and she continued.

"This is my room," She said, briefly looking in to the untidy room next to the bathroom "Please excuse the mess, I haven't had time to keep anything in order lately with exams and all," Rosa laughed a little, her cheeks flushing a nice shade of pink.

"And this is the spare room, it use to be my friend's but she left London a while ago, so you may use it if you like," Rosa smiled and moved past him and back down the narrow hall.

"This room is the living room and just over there is the kitchen," She pointed out.

"It is a nice place," I said politely.

"Are you hungry? I'm hungry," Rosa said quickly and walked into the room she said was the kitchen. I followed her in and noticed that it too contained weird appliances.

Rosa was leaning into the refrigerator, desperately searching for something that she couldn't seem to find. She then moved on to a small pantry and also came up with nothing.

"Well, I must have forgotten to do the shopping," She sighed "How about we order take out?" She asked. What was that?

"Do you like pizza?" She asked. I nodded, any form of food sounded good to me. I hadn't had a proper meal in a very long time since the war got underway.

Rosa picked up a smaller box that was fixed to the wall and pressed the buttons on it. When she began to talk to the box I realised that it was a telephone.

"Right, so food should be here in half an hour," Rosa smiled and gestured for us to sit on the sofa. I took off my uniform coat and placed it across my lap, resting my hands on it as I sat down. Rosa slouched down into the sofa, pulling her legs up and tucking them close to her small body.

"So what do you do as further education, Miss Miller?" I asked. The woman rolled her eyes.

"I feel like I'm in a job interview, please, call me Rosa," She laughed. I nodded and smiled.

"Sorry, Rosa," I said.

"I attend the university and do a history course which I have just finished and sadly must move on to pursue a career," Rosa sighed. I nodded.

"Wow, I wanted to go to university, but my family wasn't rich enough to send me, so I joined the army," I said.

"So you were in the army before the war started?" Rosa asked me. I nodded.

"Indeed, if I had just started when the war began then I would not have had the ranking of Captain," I explained. Rosa understood.

"I can't get over the fact that you are actually from 1914, I mean, how is it even possible? You aren't joking with me are you?" Rosa asked, eyeing him suspiciously. I smirked and shook my head.

"No, I assure you, I am as surprised as you are. I wish I could remember how I got here," I said. There was a knock at the front door. Was it the food? How long had we been talking?

Rosa got off the sofa and unlocked the door. It was the delivery man.

"That will be twenty two dollars and fifty cents thanks," The young man smiled at Rosa. Rosa handed him cash and took the boxes of pizza from him.

I watched as she set the boxes down on the kitchen bench. I got up and decided that it would be rude to just sit there while she waited on me.

"Would you like me to do anything to help?" I asked as I reached the bench. Rosa smiled.

"Yeah, sit down and enjoy some twenty first century pizza," She said, opening the pantry and getting out two ceramic plates.

I took my first bite of a slice of pizza when Rosa had sat down beside me. It was delicious. It wasn't a proper homemade meal, but it was a lot better than the slim they fed us at the camp.

"Yum?" Rosa asked. I nodded and took another bite. We sat in silence for the remainder of the meal.

After we ate Rosa picked up another strange box that seemed to turn on the large black box sitting on the wooden table in front of the sofa.

"This is a television," Rosa stated. At long last! A name for the box! I thought to myself. Rosa also explained the little box she held that turned on the television was called a remote. She showed me how it worked. Amazing!

"Miss- Rosa," I corrected myself "Thank you so much for all of this," I said sincerely. Rosa nodded and smiled.

"You're welcome, I hope it's not a burden, but there are some things I would like to ask you in the morning," Rosa said. I nodded.

"I will answer the questions I am able to," I said. Rosa smiled and stood up.

"Well, we better get your bed sorted," She said and disappeared down the hall.

Rosa had pulled some clean sheets from a small cupboard at the end of the hall and was placing them on the guest bed.

"Just let me know if there's anything you needs Cap," She smirked and turned to leave the room. I caught her hand just before she left, clearly taking her by surprise. I lifted her hand to my lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles as a normal gentleman would. It made Rosa blush.

"Thank you, again," I said. Rosa tilted her head slightly.

"You're welcome, Goodnight, James," She smiled and began to leave the room again.

"Goodnight, Rosa," I said and shut the door.

I was grateful to sleep in a proper bed that night. However, I was not grateful for the dream that I had, or perhaps it was a memory…

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_**Review! :) Oh! And Merry Christmas for tomorrow :D (Christmas is tomorrow for me being in NZ and all :p I don't know what the time difference is for the rest of the world BUT have a good day everyone c:)**_


	3. Nightmare, dancing, fashion

CHAPTER THREE:

Rosa awoke at three a.m to a frantic yell. She bolted upright in her bed, her hair falling in tangles over her sleepy face. She searched the room to find no one in it. Where had the noise come from? Then she remembered. Rosa was renting her guest room to a man out of time, literally.

Rosa got out of her bed and ran into the room across the hall from her to find James stirring in his sleep, scratching at his bare chest. Rosa gasped and hesitantly tried to shake him awake.

"James, James wake up you're having a nightmare," Rosa said, as softly as she could. The Captain's eyes fluttered open and the yelling ceased. He instead took a sharp breath of air and sat up, almost hitting his head against Rosa's.

"Where am I?" He asked, looking to Rosa with a worried expression.

"In my guest bedroom, remember, I hit you with my car yesterday," Rosa sighed, rubbing her eyes. James let out a long breath.

"I am so sorry," He whispered. Rosa rubbed his back comfortingly, only to find out that he had a really nice back.

"What was your nightmare about?" She asked.

"We were charging at the enemy, riding through a camp of German soldiers. We thought we had succeeded, but the Germans had machine guns in the edge of the forest, they were shooting at us and…" James trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"You got shot?" Rosa offered. James nodded.

"I knew I was going to get shot though, but I continued going, I was terrified, terrified for my horse, Joey, terrified for my friends riding with me, terrified for my country," James let out. Rosa nodded.

"It was the strangest thing though, it felt so real, I swear I could feel the bullets tearing through my body," He added, shaking his head.

Rosa thought for a moment. People only had dreams of things that they had experienced or had wanted in the future. James wouldn't have wanted the cavalry charge to be a defeat and he certainly wouldn't have wanted to die knowing that…

"What if that actually happened, James?" Rosa asked. James looked to her in shook.

"What?" He whispered.

"What if you were killed during that cavalry charge? People don't usually dream about those sort of things, normally you would dream of something that you have experienced or want to experience in the future and I'm sure you didn't want to be shot, right?" Rosa asked. James nodded.

"It is impossible though," He said, shaking his head.

"You somehow managed to jump through space and time and you are saying that it is impossible that you could have been shot during the charge?" Rosa asked.

"I don't know, all of this is completely crazy!" James sighed, rubbing his hands over his face and through his hair.

"How about I get you something to drink," Rosa sighed. James nodded.

"That would be nice, thank you," He smiled weakly. Rosa got up from his bed and padded down the hall into the kitchen.

She lazily leaned on the edge of the sink as she filled up a glass. Was it impossible that James was shot? Or was it a possibility?

Rosa walked back to James's room. He was still sitting up in bed. She handed him the glass and he drank it down in almost one whole gulp.

"Thank you," He said breathlessly as he twirled the glass in his hands.

"You should try going back to sleep, I don't think you will have another dream," Rosa sighed and stood up. James nodded, lying back down and putting his hands over his eyes.

Rosa went back into her own room and lay down. She blushed as she drew the covers over her body. She had been in nothing but underwear and a large t shirt the whole time!

The next morning Rosa got up surprisingly early, considering she had been woken up at three a.m. She got dressed in a pair of high wasted navy blue shorts and a white tank top. She could tell that the day would be incredibly hot, so she pulled her blond locks back into a tight ponytail on top of her head.

As she headed out of her room, she noticed that James's door was still shut. She decided to let him sleep a little longer.

Rosa turned on the T.V to watch the morning news while she ate breakfast. There wasn't anything too exciting on apart from the Christmas parades that would be taking place in the city centre.

By the end of the morning news she noticed that James still wasn't up, so she decided to knock on his door.

"James? Are you awake?" Rosa asked, knocking loudly on the door so he would hear. After no reply she cracked the door open slightly and peaked in. She found James still sound asleep. Smiling at his peacefulness she closed the door and went back to the living room.

The apartment was too quiet, so Rosa decided to put on some music. She looked through her CD rack and chose her favourite childhood band, the Red Hot Chilli peppers; it was one of her mix tapes that contained all her favourite songs.

The first song to play was 'By the way', she cranked up the volume and drew open the curtains. Playing the air guitar she bounced around the room with a big grin on her face. She had gone to one of their concerts at Slane castle with her dad, the man who had played the bands albums over and over when she was a little girl, causing her to fall in love with the band.

Behind Rosa, someone cleared their throat. Shit. Rosa spun around to find James smirking at her from the entrance of the hallway. He had put on his uniform shirt and pants, but left the coat and tie. His hair was still messy from sleep.

"You seem to be very enthusiastic with your dancing," He chuckled. Rosa's cheeks were bright red. He was fast asleep a few minutes ago!

"If we were together before th ewar I would certainly ask you to be my dance partner" He said

All Rosa could do was smile awkwardly and turn the music down slightly. "I am so sorry you had to see that, I am so embarrassed," Rosa groaned and face palmed.

"It was quite enjoyable, however, I should not tease you, it would be rude considering how I acted last night," He said, lowering his head to hide his own embarrassment.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Rosa asked, changing the subject. James lifted his head and nodded.

Other than James's polite manners and gentlemanliness, Rosa didn't feel like she was around a guy who had mysteriously popped out of 1914. He was sweet, funny and highly charismatic.

Rosa decided that James needed some modern clothes. He couldn't continue to wear his uniform, especially if they went out in public.

"Hey James, how about we go get you some new clothes?" Rosa asked from across the living room. She was sitting on the kitchen bench and him on the sofa, transfixed by the T.V.

He twisted his body to face her "That sounds like a good idea, I think I would draw too much attention wearing my uniform," He chuckled and gracefully stood up. Rosa, ungracefully, jumped off the bench counter and walked down the hall to fetch her shoes.

"Your year's fashion is a lot different to my year's fashion," James said, looking through the racks of clothing.

"Yeah, I figured," Rosa smirked and offered him a shirt that she thought would suite him and his era of fashion.

"I am highly surprised to find that women are now wearing trousers and 'shorts' that reveal their legs," He grinned. Rosa held her leg out in front of her.

"What's wrong with showing off a little leg?" She laughed "Especially when it's hot out, we can't be cooped up in heavy dresses that reach out ankles," She added sarcastically. James laughed.

"Well, you should go try some of this stuff on to see if the sizes are right," Rosa said, handing a few shirts she was holding to him. She led him in the direction of the changing rooms.

After a few minutes of waiting, James finally emerged wearing a dark pair of jeans and a light shirt.

"How does it feel?" Rosa asked. James shrugged and turned to look at himself in the mirror.

"These trousers are strange material, I don't know if I will get use to them," He laughed. Rosa joined in.

"Yeah, jeans are quite uncomfortable at first, but once you've warn them in they will get a heck of a lot more comfortable," Rosa said. James nodded.

They worked out the tall Captain's sizes and found some more items of clothing, which Rosa paid for. She was lucky her parents gave her a reasonable amount of money each month; they didn't want her working while she was taking classes, but that would soon change.

Rosa and James spent the day walking and driving around the city. James pointed out things that he remembered and things that were new to him.

"Where did you use to live? Or… do live?" Rosa asked, not sure which term to use since he was still alive but just, out of place.

"When I was young I lived in the countryside for a while, until my father was killed in the second Boer war. After that my mother and I moved closer to the city because it was easier to travel to and from the markets," James said.

"Did you have any siblings?" Rosa asked. James shook his head.

"No, unfortunately not," James said "Do you?" he asked.

"Yes, one older brother, Nicklaus," Rosa said.

"Nicklaus?" James asked, Rosa laughed and nodded.

"I know, it's a strange name, we usually just call him Nick," Rosa explained.

"What about your name, Rosa, is it short for something?" James asked. Rosa shook her head.

"My mother likes to call me Rosalie when she is angry with me, but it hasn't been put on any official records; so I just go with Rosa," She said. James nodded.

"It's a nice name," He smiled, Rosa blushed.

"Thanks," She said.

"Well, if we want to eat tonight we should go to the supermarket," Rosa sighed and unlocked her car door. James gave her a questioning look.

"_Super_market?" He asked as they shut their doors simultaneously. Rosa nodded and turned the car on.

"Yes, it's like a big indoor market," She said "You will see when we get there," She chuckled. James nodded and looked out the front window as they drove off.

The look on the captain's face when they entered the supermarket shifted from surprise to curiosity. He enjoyed looking around the large building and the aisles of food and packet food. Rosa watched the man with admiration. He was a really nice guy. Of all the men she had ever dated in her life, none were as kind as James and she didn't even go out with him!

Rosa told herself that no matter what, she can't get too attracted to the guy. He came out of the past, what if he was to suddenly disappear and go back? If she was to get too close to him, it would only break her heart.

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_**Review :)**_


	4. The war memorial

_**Ok, so just a heads up... I don't know a lot about the war memorials in England so i sort of made this one up c:**_

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CHAPTER FOUR:

The next two days consisted of Rosa telling James about modern society. She talked about the history behind new devices such as the cell phone and computer. James was highly impressed when Rosa explained what the internet was.

"The first phone to phone SMS message was sent in 1993 in Finland," Rosa explained.

"That is intriguing," James said, turning her Samsung touch phone in his large hands. He didn't understand how the device worked exactly, but he liked the dynamics of it.

"Things like this could be very useful in the war, instead of sending letters that take weeks and months to get to one's family, they could send and instant message and constantly keep in touch with their loved ones!" James beamed; if only it were that simple. All messages would have to be checked so that soldiers weren't revealing all the horrible experiences of war, from both sides.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but did you have a girlfriend or wife?" Rosa asked. James smirked and shook his head.

"No, there wasn't really much time for relationships when I first joined up and certainly no time when the war got under way," He said. Rosa relaxed a little.

They sat next to each other at the bench, where Rosa had been showing James her phone and laptop; but the proximity between them began to feel uncomfortable, for Rosa at least, especially when he looked at her with his sweet smile, it made her insides go crazy and her cheeks burn.

"What about you? Do you have a partner?" James asked, Rosa felt like laughing hysterically. She hadn't had a boy friend for about two years now. Her last boyfriend dumped her because she was a lot smarter than him and knew almost everything about anything… history wise.

"No, no I don't," She said, but instead of laughing she just smirked. After a while of awkward silence between the two, Rosa decided to speak up.

"I have an idea!" She said, jumping off her stool.

"And what is that?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why don't we go to the war memorial? There are lists of names of soldiers who fought in both wars, perhaps it will help us answer some questions about you," Rosa suggested. James nodded.

"I guess there is no harm in trying," he shrugged.

The modern woman and the man out of time drove to the war memorial museum. James was a little nervous; he didn't know what to think if he had in fact died during the cavalry charge. Only after four days, James decided that he quite liked the year 2012; he wanted to stay here where he didn't have to go war and see all his friends die around him.

When they arrived they checked every inch of the museum. There was a large wall with all the names of the British soldiers who fought in the war. To Rosa and James's luck the names were placed under headings. Air force, Navy and Infantry were the main titles, but Rosa found Cavalry and began to go down the list of names. There were a lot of names. Not as much as in the Infantry, but still a lot. James started at the top since he was at least a foot taller than Rosa, and Rosa started at the bottom.

They searched the list for about ten minutes and found nothing. Until James stood completely still. He brushed his fingers over one specific name just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Rosa moved in closer to him to see the name. Captain James Nicholls, it read.

"I really did die," He whispered. Rosa looked up at his face, only to see his eyes empty as he stared at his name upon the wall. Rosa felt her heart sink into her stomach at his expression. He looked even more lost than he had when she first met him.

Rosa moved closer to James and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head on his chest.

"I'm so sorry, James," She said, not knowing what else to say to a man who just found out that he died in the war (But was somehow still alive and here)

James didn't move for a few minutes, so Rosa decided to pull away from him; but as she did he pulled her back. He needed her closeness, to make him feel real and not like he was going to disappear.

They stood in the embrace for a while. Rosa's heart fluttered every so often when James tightened his arms around her back. To her displeasure she was the first one to pull away, suggesting that they leave; but she kept her arm linked with his, which he seemed not to mind.

The evening was mostly spent in silence. James decided to go to bed early, leaving Rosa to her TV programmes. Bad reality shows made her fell insomniac so she settled for a movie, eventually falling asleep halfway through.

James lay awake that night. He had told Rosa that he would like to go to sleep early, but he was restless, so many thoughts raced through his head. Was he really dead? If he was, how was he able to be here like a normal living and breathing person? He wasn't a ghost, he could touch Rosa without his hand going through her and she could see him. Did he really die they way he did in his dream?

The Captain tossed and turned in bed. After hours of not being able to go to sleep he decided to get up and see if Rosa was still awake. He wandered down the hall and into the kitchen where he got a drink. The lights weren't on, but the television was, so he decided to go and turn it off.

James found Rosa curled up in a little ball at one end of the couch, fast asleep. He left the TV on while he fetched a blanket from the end of her bed. He felt rude entering her private space, but he would feel even ruder for leaving her lying there obviously cold.

The soldier returned with a fluffy purple blanket and laid it over her small frame. He looked at her for a few moments. He liked the way she looked, peaceful and content in her sleep. James was eternally grateful for her kindness. Rosa hardly knew him, yet she comforted him when he felt down. He would cherish the friendship they were forming.

Sleep came easier to him after seeing Rosa. His thoughts centred on her, rather than his death as he lay in bed.

Rosa woke up and found her purple blanket covering her. She was on the couch. She smiled. James must have put it on me, she thought. She sat up and switched on the morning news. More talk about the preparations for Christmas and where people could find Santa in their suburbs. Nothing too interesting had happened since yesterday morning, other than that there would be snowfall during the afternoon that could potentially turn into a full blown snowstorm.

It became her morning ritual. Rosa would watch the morning news while eating breakfast and then she would put some music on; but she wouldn't dance too much, not since the one morning when James had caught her. As for James, he slept in later than her.

Rosa decided that she should go and buy more food from the supermarket. Whenever the news said there would be snowfall she would end up stuck in her apartment for a day or two. Leaving a note for James on the bench, Rosa picked up her keys, donned her coat and boots and left the apartment.

The supermarket wasn't overly crowded as Rosa half expected it to be. Perhaps people weren't as worried about snow as Rosa was. She went on holiday once with her parents when she was thirteen and they got trapped in a small hut after heavy snowfall and weren't able to get out for about four days. Of course being young she thought that they would be trapped forever and die in that hut.

Rosa got all the necessary items to remain comfortable if the snowfall was to turn into a storm. Meat, veggies, fruit, snack food, toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, shampoo conditioner and some other lady items in case her time of month came. While on her way to the checkout she picked up some batteries.

Walking back to her car she noticed that it had begun to snow already. The weather report said it wouldn't begin to snow until the evening. She thought how random weather was. A few days ago it was quite hot and now it was going to be freezing. Rosa sighed as she turned on the car and drove home; hopefully James was up by now.

"Oh good, you are up!" Rosa grinned as she stepped through the apartment door, shopping bags in hand and little snowflakes melting in her hair.

"Yes, I got your note- is there snow in your hair?" James asked, frowning and looking at Rosa's dampening hair.

"Yeah," She said, dumping the bags on the bench "There's a chance of a snowstorm so I decided to go and get supplies," She chuckled.

"Oh, you should have woken me up, I would have accompanied you," James said, Rosa just shook her head.

"I have been living by myself for about five years now, I know how to do things by myself," She smirked.

"Five years? How old are you?" James asked "My apologies, that was really rude of me," He said, cheeks reddening slightly. Rosa just laughed.

"Age doesn't matter to me, I'm twenty four, I finished high school at eighteen and went straight into college," She shrugged and began to put away the groceries.

"You are still quite young," James said, helping her with the food, even though he didn't know exactly where everything went.

"Well, how old are you?" Rosa asked, pausing to look at him.

"Thirty, I was born in 1884," James said. Rosa laughed.

"You look a lot younger than thirty, I would have guessed you to be at least twenty six," She said. James shrugged.

"And you look a lot younger than twenty four," Rosa smirked, poking her tongue at him and putting some apples into the empty fruit bowl on the bench top.

"I can't I believe I have a one hundred and twenty eight year old man in my house," She said sarcastically. James dropped his mouth in mock surprise.

"Are my wrinkles showing through?" He gasped, Rosa laughed.

They spent the rest of the morning and afternoon happily talking about random things; neither brought up anything else about war or James's supposed death. The snow had gotten heavier, it began to pile up outside and the streets became empty of cars and people. No one wanted to brave the storm.

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_**Review! Next chapter should be up later today, make sure to check :)**_


	5. Power cuts suck

**_Second update today :) possibly a third on it's way unless I get stuck and can't think of what to write... _**

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CHAPTER FIVE:

6 PM: power cut commences.

Rosa and James were forced to eat by candle light and use torches to see their way down the hall way. Because the power was out they couldn't waste time away by watching TV and it was a hassle trying to read a book in the dim light, so the two settled for a game of cards.

"We've been playing this for hours now, can the power just come back on," Rosa sighed and gave James one of her cards.

"We didn't have power in our barracks, we were forced to do things by candle light ever night. Most of the soldiers went to bed early because there was nothing much to do," James said "At least we have a proper shelter here, I heard men in the trenches were forced to sleep in little dug out holes in the trench walls, covered in mud and constantly kept awake by the sounds of guns and bombs," James shrugged.

"What did you do when it was night time?" Rosa asked him.

"I would draw a lot of the time, at night, during the day when I wasn't busy; that and write letters to my mother," he said.

"You draw? Are you any good?" Rosa asked, James just shrugged and picked a card up from the stack.

"The men said my drawings were good, I didn't really think anything of them," He said modestly.

"What did you draw?" Rosa asked, halting the game.

"My horse Joey, he was a magnificent horse. I brought him from a farmer at a market, it turned out that the horse was raised and trained by the farmer's son who hadn't given him permission to sell him," James said.

"But you took the horse anyway?" Rosa asked. James nodded.

"I paid less than the horse was worth, but it was all the money I had. All I could do was promise the boy that I would take as much care of Joey as the boy had and return him after the war," James trailed off.

"I guess you didn't get to return him then," Rosa sighed. James shook his head.

"Even though I… died, I believe Joey is still alive, he was a magnificent horse, the best one could get. He was strong and full of spirit," He said. Rosa put her hand over his.

"We will figure out what's going on, I know it's stressing you out and it's really confusing, but we will find out," Rosa smiled "In the mean time, you will have to draw something for me and show me how good you are a drawing!" She smiled and drew her hand away.

James nodded. Each day he spent with the modern woman he felt more and more distant from the war and his past life. He wanted to start anew. James wanted to fight for his country, but he died, so what use would he be? He discovered that each day he felt the need to stay where he was; to stay with Rosa and stay in the twenty first century.

Rosa suddenly stood up and stretched. Placing the cards back down on the small coffee table they were sitting at, she traded them for a torch.

"I think I might have a bath, its cold out here," She said, rubbing her arms and marching down the hall way.

"What should I do?" James asked. It was only eight o'clock and still far too early to go to sleep.

"You could start drawing something for me," Rosa smirked "There is paper in the top drawer in that cabinet over there and I think there are pencils in the drawer under that," She said, waving her finger lazily at a small black cabinet behind him. James nodded and stood up as Rosa retreated down the hallway.

James gathered all the candles in the living room and put them on the bench, where he decided to sit and draw. He mulled over what to draw for a couple of minutes, tapping the tip of a pencil against his chin.

Rosa, on the other hand, began to run a bath. There were a couple of scented candles she kept in the bathroom. She laughed at a thought that ran through her mind. Lighting candles and bathing in the dim light should be romantic I you are with someone. She shook her head and went back into her room to gather some dry clothes to dress in after.

The winter season was harsh but Rosa liked the snow. It allowed her to dress up in comfy sweaters and scarves. Ugg boats were accepted in public, and hot chocolate was necessary for the survival of the season. Rosa mulled over what to do tomorrow if the storm got any worse. She hoped the power would be on; there wasn't much to do without power. She couldn't even go on the internet on her cell phone because the WIFI box didn't work without power. Perhaps she would finish off her some of the books that were due to go back to the library.

In the living room, James was heavily concentrated on his drawing. He had decided to try and draw Joey form memory. He had remembered drawing him a few days before they were to do the practice charge. He had most of the horse's head down and was now working on the ears and shading.

Rosa lifted herself out of the bath, her fingers and toes were wrinkled form the heat and length of time she had spent in the water. She dried off and put on a pair of leggings, a singlet, a thermal and a dark blue knitted sweater on. She even put on her scarf; the apartment didn't have any form of heating other than an electric heater, which unfortunately couldn't be used because the power was still out.

Rosa dried off her golden locks and tied them in a pony tail. She decided to go into her room for a while, while James drew. She didn't want to disturb him.

James heard when Rosa had finished in the bathroom. He had almost finished his drawing by then and hoped she would come down and try to see it before he got the chance to finish it. Fortunately she didn't, he had noticed that she in fact retreated into her bedroom.

Rosa lay on her bed, she didn't know how long she lay there, but she could feel sleep trying to take over and decided to get up before she could be knocked completely out.

Stumbling down the hall she found James hunched over the bench, surrounded by candles. Rosa walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, stirring him form sleep.

"Sorry," Rosa whispered as James looked around.

"I didn't know if you were asleep or not, I don't think the kitchen bench is the most comfortable place to sleep anyways," Rosa smirked tiredly and let a large yawn escape her mouth. James picked up a piece of paper he had been lying on and handed it to her.

"I finished it," He smiled. Rosa took the picture and looked over it, leaning closer to the light form the candles.

"This is amazing, James," Rosa said. The picture of the horse was perfectly drawn, the shading was excellent. Rosa looked between James's eyes and the picture.

"Is this Joey?" She asked. James nodded.

"Yes, I tried to draw him from memory, I didn't know what else to draw," James shrugged and got up off the stool.

"You can keep it if you like," He smiled. Rosa shook her head.

"No, you drew it, it's yours; you should keep it to remember Joey," She said. James shook his head and chuckled lightly.

"No piece of paper could compare to the real thing, I drew it for you, so you keep it," He said "Perhaps you can have it as a way to remember me by," He shrugged.

Rosa sighed. That's right. He was from the past. What if he went back, the way he had mysteriously arrived here?

James said goodnight and retreated down the hallway to the room he was occupying. Rosa smiled at the picture and noticed that he had signed it in the bottom right corner of the page.

Rosa blew out all the candles and also retreated back to her room, back to the warmth of her bed and blankets.

Overnight, the snow piled up and up. The streets were covered in white and the air infected with white flakes. The storm pelted buildings and cars, turning them white wherever the snow could land. Showing no signs of remorse the weather not only covered the area in snow, but also chilled the inhabitants of the building the flakes fell on.

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**_Review! :) Merry Christmas to all who have it today! I had Christmas yesterday c: _**


	6. Winter morning history lesson

_**Here ya go, third update for today :)**_

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CHAPTER SIX:

The morning was eerily cold. Rosa threw back her blankets, getting an immediate cold draft coursing over her body. She let out a little shriek and drew back her blankets quickly to trap the remaining heat around her. Rosa stayed in bed for about an hour until she heard James get up and brave the cold morning air. She decided to get up; luckily she was still wearing many layers of clothing. She re-tied her scarf around her neck and left her room.

"Good morning," James smiled as a plucked an apple form the fruit bowl.

"Freezing morning is more like it," Rosa shivered and dragged the bread form the pantry, putting two slices in the toaster, until she realised that the power was still off. She let out a long breath and settled with cereal and milk.

"I can't live without power," Rosa sighed and slumped down on the couch.

"It's not all that bad," James shrugged and sat beside her. Rosa noticed that he was only wearing a shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Shit, I didn't get you anything warm to wear! I am so sorry," Rosa said, standing up and setting her bowl down on the coffee table.

"I will see if there is anything of my father's here, my parents quite often come over and leave a set of clothes here," She called out from the other end of the hallway.

"I am fine, do not trouble yourself," James called back to her. Rosa rummaged through the small cupboard at the end of the hall but came up empty handed. She walked back down to the living room and stood in front of the couch.

"Are you cold? Who am I kidding, you must be freezing, I know I am and I'm wearing warmer clothes than you, I feel so bad; I should have realised that you would need warm clothing for winter," Rosa rambled "Would you like a blanket? I plan on sitting on the couch all day and using up however much battery my laptop has left," She added. James laughed and shook his head.

"I will be fine," He said. Rosa shrugged and wandered back down the hall. She wanted to be warm so she pulled the large duvet off her bed and dragged it down the hall.

"Well, I plan to be warm," She smiled and found her laptop in its carry bag. She tucked her small legs up onto the couch and wrapped the duvet around her shoulders. It was so puffy that it occupied most of the couch. Rosa then rested her laptop half on the arm of the couch and half on her knees.

She played games on the computer, happy that she had brought some mystery puzzle games the week before.

"You look a little cold there," Rosa smirked and looked over at James sitting beside her, trying to contain his shivering.

"I may have underestimated the temperature," He said through chattering teeth. Rosa held open part of the duvet and let him slide in closer to her. He rested against her side and pulled the blanket around his torso, still leaving his legs exposed to the cool air.

"What is this?" He asked, curiously looking at the game Rosa was playing.

"It is a mystery game; you have to figure out what the ghost wants by going through a series of rooms in a haunted mansion. In each room there is either a puzzle, or you have to find certain object that is listed in a table at the bottom of the page, in which you get to keep one that will help you unlock another room or give you a clue," Rosa explained. James nodded; showing he somewhat understood what she said. Rosa smirked and shifted the laptop onto his lap.

"You have a go," She said and showed him how to play.

While James worked out the game, Rosa smiled contently and rested her head against his shoulder. He gave her more warmth and gave off a sense of ease, even if he was getting frustrated when an object was hidden that he couldn't find or didn't know what it was.

As the computer ran out of battery, Rosa and James remained close to each other under the blanket. The proximity between them was comforting and warm.

"I've been meaning to ask you," James began, turning his head to look at her "Did we win the war?" He asked, curious. Rosa's stomach fluttered at the closeness and at the way his eyes were locked on hers, she couldn't tear her gaze away.

"Yeah, the allied side won, however, the treaty of Versailles that was created with Germany was a major factor that lead to the Second World War," Rosa said. James's brow furrowed a little.

"What did it consist of?" He asked.

"Well, to ensure 'peace' France created a 'buffer' zone between them and Germany to allow time to prepare if Germany were to attack them again. Germany was stripped of a lot of land they had claimed, they were also stripped of tanks, submarines and an air force, their infantry was reduced to 100,000 men, they weren't allowed a union or 'anschluss' with Austria and because of all the damage they caused, mainly in France, they had to pay reparations of about 6600 billion pounds," Rosa explained, finally looking away from his gaze and down at her hands.

"When the Great Depression happened in the 1930's, Germany's people suffered the worst. Hyperinflation was caused and their money became worthless, especially because their government decided to print off more money than it had in order to pay back the reparations. The people of Germany were furious with their government and decided to turn to the extreme ends of the political spectrum, the NAZI's or the communists. Germany elected a man named Hitler to power and he promised to rip up the treaty of Versailles, which he did, figuratively," Rosa said.

"What did he do?" James asked, highly interested in Rosa's explanation.

"He did everything that the treaty of Versailles said not to. He sent troops into the Rhineland to take it back, the troops were told that if they saw a single French officer that they had to turn back because Germany didn't have enough troops to go to war with. That's another thing Hitler did, he started to rebuild the military, creating a secret alliance with Russia so that Russia would build weapons and tanks for Germany. As the military got stronger, Hitler began to take back the land that Germany was stripped of, he took back Austria, creating a forbidden union with them, he took part of Czechoslovakia called the 'Sudetenland' he then took the rest of Czechoslovakia and too kick off the war he took Poland," Rosa said.

"It sounds like he was a power hungry man," James stated. Rosa nodded.

"Britain and France could have stopped it though," She shrugged. James frowned.

"How?" He asked.

"Well, they basically let him have land. He kept saying 'I only want this part and nothing else' or 'this part has Germans in it and they are being treated badly; I only want this back and nothing else' and of course Britain and France let him have it. However, when they finally said no and threatened was, when Hitler wanted Poland, Germany's military was ready for war, so he took it anyway. There was also this thing created called the League of Nations, designed to make peace that failed to keep Germany peaceful. It took them months to decide on what to do and by then it was far too late because everyone who represented the countries that were members of the league had to have a unanimous vote to take action on an aggressive country," Rosa explained.

"That is just ridiculous, surely they wouldn't have been so blind to see his actions," James shook his head "I must say though, you are very impressive; you have so much knowledge inside of you!" He smiled. Rosa blushed. She had studied the wars a lot throughout high school, history was her best subject.

She looked up at him and smiled proudly.

"I have always had a passion for history, I guess it all just sticks to me like glue," She shrugged and looked down. They were still snuggled under the duvet. She felt James's hand under her chin, lifting her head back up to lock gazes with his.

He leaned in closer to her, his uneven breath warm on her cold face. Rosa felt like her entire body began to shake when she realised what he was doing and what she was freely leaning into.

Their lips were mere millimetres apart from one another, until the lights snapped on.

"Well, looks like we have power again!" Rosa said as they both hastily leaned away from each other.

"I'm going to go put the heater on," She said and got off the couch. Part of her head screaming at her to reach down a plant a big fat kiss on his lips and the other part asking her if she was insane. She shouldn't kiss him, if she kissed him, she would begin to fall for him and she could do that. He wasn't from around here, he mysteriously showed up from 1914 and if he were to mysteriously go back the way he came, what would she do? She would be heartbroken if she had fallen for him.

Rosa told her mind to shut up. She would be torn apart if her were to go anyway. They were becoming good friends. She would be gutted if he left and they had formed a relationship, but she would also be gutted if he left and she didn't get the opportunity to kiss him.

In the end Rosa decided she wasn't going to think about it. She didn't want to. All she wanted to do was turn on the fan heater and heat up the apartment.

Instead of going to sit back down on the sofa with James, she decided to avoid an awkward conversation by making a hot coffee. She needed it.

"Um, would you like a coffee?" She timidly asked James. He stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen.

"Yes, thanks, that would be great," He said, running a hand through his hair.

They remained silent while the jug boiled and Rosa set out spooning coffee and sugar into two mugs. She decided to break the silence when she began to pour in the boiling water.

"I wonder if the bakery is open, I feel like a pie," She said and mixed milk in the mugs, handing one to James and holding the other tightly in her hands, pink form the cold air.

"Perhaps we can walk down there?" James suggested.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere without a jacket, you will freeze!" Rosa laughed, the awkwardness ebbing away slightly.

"I can't let you go by yourself," James protested.

"Nonsense! I've been doing things by myself for years now, I am capable of being self proficient you know," She said. James sighed and sipped the coffee, grateful for its warmth.

He too was thinking about how he almost kissed Rosa. He wanted to, he needed to. To know what her lips felt like against his. He wanted to remember her if he were to go back to the 1914. He would kiss her, but he felt like she was a bit wary about it. The way she jumped up when the lights interrupted them made him get the sense that she was uncertain about the whole thing.

James wanted to ask her if she didn't want to kiss him, but he was rather shy and decided not to. Perhaps one day he would confront her, if it's not too late.

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**_Review! :)_**


	7. The sweet tune of good luck

**_Sooo, I just got back from my trip to a little place called Foxton for the new years :) I had an amazing time with my friends and the beach! I made sure to take a note book so I could do a little planning while I was away (Which I need to do more of in general) I have come up with the way that James was sent to the future :D_**

_**I also recieved a review from someone asking why I used dollars when the characters are in Britain.. (the money Rosa used to pay for the pizza with...) For that, it is because I am from NZ and I don't understand how Britain's currency works because I have never been there, it is lack of research on my part, and I am use to my own currency so it sort of just fell out onto word -.- I apologise for that and in the future I shall be more careful! Thank you for pointing that out though :)**_

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CHAPTER SEVEN:

Rosa braved the cold snowy streets. Wrapped in two t-shirts, one white sweatshirt, her favourite navy blue knitted jumper, a pair of black jeans and a large raincoat. She also added a scarf and beanie to the mix.

As she walked down the street she realised that Christmas was only about a week away, she would need to put up a Christmas tree and perhaps get some new decorations. Did James take part in the Christmas holiday? Should she get him a gift? If so, what would she get him? Rosa didn't know him that well; she only knew that he really liked horses and drawing.

Rosa knew the bakery wouldn't be open, considering the power was out overnight. The fast food restaurants would most likely be open because they would have backup generators running or something like that. Rosa really just wanted to get out of the house to think. Did she really almost kiss a man that came from the past? She had told herself countless times in her head to keep a careful distance from the man.

What she needed to do was work out how to send the man back, not give him reason to stay; he didn't belong in this time period. As much as Rosa knew it was for the best to send him back, she also wanted him to stay.

Rosa decided to take a walk around the park at the end of the street. It was covered in snow, but she found a swing to sit on. Reminiscing over what to do, Rosa didn't realise that James would probably be worrying about why she wasn't back yet. She picked herself up off the swing and trudged back through the snowy grass and down the street to her apartment.

"There you are, I was beginning to worry," James chuckled as he turned the TV remote in his hands. Rosa smiled as she shrugged off her jacket and hung it on a door knob.

"Sorry, the bakery wasn't open and I… yeah," Rosa sighed, rubbing her forehead. James frowned slightly, worried.

"Is something the matter?" He asked, standing up. Rosa shook her head.

"No, it's nothing," Rosa said, faking a smile and heading into the kitchen area to get a drink.

"Rosa, I may be from 1914 but I can still tell when someone is worried about something," James said, putting his hand on her shoulder. When Rosa didn't say anything, James continued.

"Is it my staying here?" He asked "Because I will leave if you wish, this is your home and I wouldn't want to make you feel invaded by my presence," He said. Rosa turned around.

"No, I love having you around, I feel as though we are friends and we could perhaps be very good friends, but there is still the matter of your mysterious time travel and I would hate to become too close to you and then you suddenly leave as you arrived, it always happens whenever I get feelings for someone" Rosa blurted out. James smiled and moved his hands up to cup her face.

"I would hate to leave now; I feel something for you and I would dislike it very much to go back to a horrible war when it is all so peaceful here," He said. Rosa laughed at that last part.

"Oh, the world may not be in a full on war but it is certainly not peaceful, there is always something tragic that humanity concocts each and every day," She said. James shrugged and rolled his eyes, a smile playing on his lips. He moved his hands away from her face.

"Well, I prefer it here than being in the war," He said. Rosa nodded.

"I know, but it is not where you belong," She sighed "What about your horse? Joey? Weren't you supposed to return him to that boy?" She asked.

James felt something in his heart pull. Joey, that brilliant horse, what had happened to him after James was shot? If he was shot, since it was a dream and hopefully not reality.

He had promised to return Joey to his rightful owner after the war; Albert was the boy's name.

James wanted to stay here in the twenty first century with this girl, he didn't know why, but he felt as though he shouldn't leave her; he couldn't, but she seemed determined to get him home.

Captain Nicholls had been lost to his own thoughts, he hadn't realised Rosa had been speaking to him.

"Why don't we start small, check the pockets on your uniform. I watched this movie called the Hangover about these guys who lost their friend and couldn't remember the previous night's events. They checked their pockets and it gave them clues to what happened," Rosa shrugged.

James nodded and headed into the room he had been occupying since his arrival in 2012. He picked up his Khaki uniform coat and rummaged through the inner pockets. Upon finding nothing he then proceeded to search the pockets of his uniform riding pants. James's fingers brushed something cool and metallic. He pulled the object from his pants and held it at eye level.

James heard Rosa give a small shriek of excitement when he had pulled the object out. Examining the object, James didn't recognise it. He twirled it in his fingers for a moment or two. Rosa had entered the room and now stood next to him; tiptoeing to get a better look at the object.

"What is it?" She asked. James shrugged.

"I don't recall seeing this object before in my entire life," He said with a slight crease between his eyebrows.

"May I look at it?" Rosa asked. James nodded and hesitantly gave her the object.

Rosa turned it over in her hands and examined it. It was a small metal box, no bigger than what a wedding ring would come in and it wasn't as bulky as a ring box, it was sleek and it looked very old. Along the back of the box and on what seemed to be the lid were engravings of vines and small flowers. It looked like something you would find in a little antique shop on the corner of a street.

Rosa noticed something strange about the box. On the left side of it, there was a little wind up key. It reminded her very much of a music box that she had when she was a little girl, one where you turn the key at the back of the box, open the lid and inside would be a twirling ballerina.

She went to open the box but a cool hand in hers stopped her from doing so.

Rosa looked up to find it was James's hand, he looked curious but also worried.

"What?" Rosa asked, almost a whisper. James's eyes shot to hers.

"I remember this box," He breathed. Rosa waited for an explanation, but when it was clear he wasn't going to say anything more, she asked.

_*FLASHBACK*_

_"Come on Joey, old boy," James encouraged. The country side of Somerset was relieving to the eyes. James preferred the country side to the city, all the smog and large buildings wrecked the beauty of the natural landscape. Vast fields surrounded the captain and his newly brought horse. _

_Somerset was his home, he grew up on a farm a few miles away from where he now resided with his parents. What he liked best about the residence was that it contained a stable, where he could keep a few horses, and the house backed on to unclaimed hills and meadows he could ride through. _

_Right now, that was exactly what he was doing, riding over the hills, testing out his new horse he had obtained from an old famer. Unfortunately, the farmer's son was the one who raised the stallion and was very upset about parting from the steed._

_James decided to turn back for the day. Perhaps he would venture a little further when he had a whole day to himself, away from his duties in the cavalry. _

_He rode back through a field and down a small path that would lead him to the driveway of the Nicholls residence. _

_Usually no one came down the narrow path, but on this day someone had; an elderly woman had. She was carrying a rather heavy looking basket, so James decided to stop and ask if she needed any help._

_"I am quite fine, dear," The woman had said. James couldn't quite see what she looked like because her head was covered in a black hood and from his horses back he was at an odd angle and wasn't able to catch a glimpse of her face. _

_"Are you sure, perhaps I could offer you some water, this heat is insufferable," James chuckled lightly, the elderly woman joined in slightly._

_"That would be kind sir," She said, stopping in her tracks. James handed her his water bottle and she took it gratefully. _

_Upon handing the bottle back to James, the woman spoke up again._

_"Thank you, kind sir, you seem the spitting image of a true gentleman, it is a shame and an honour that you will be going off to war," She said. James wondered for a moment how the woman knew he was going to war, but he remembered he was still in his uniform._

_The woman quickly fished around in her basket and pulled out a small metal box that was finely engraved._

_"Please, take this as a good luck token and as a token of my appreciation for your kindness," The woman smiled. James took the box and thanked the woman._

_James took the small box everywhere he went. However, he hadn't had a chance to open it, because the next day the cavalry were shipped out to France._

_*End Flashback* _

James was shaken out of his memories by Rosa's hand on his shoulder.

"Away with the fairies are we?" Rosa smirked. James's shocked expression didn't waver.

"Rosa," He began, looking down to the box still sitting in her right hand and his left hand covering it.

"Yes?" She asked.

"This box is no ordinary music box," James said. Rosa raised an eyebrow at him.

"I remember, I was shot," He breathed "And the last thing I heard over the sound of machine guns was a sweet tune," He said, closing his eyes as he vividly remembered the tune in his head.

"It was the sweet tune of good luck," 

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	8. My heart is torn two ways

_**Here's chapter eight :) It seeems quite short, but it looks way longer on word... Anyway, I just wanted to say that I took down the author's note and replaced it with chapter seven last night, so if you haven't read it it's there :) I should have mentioned that I would take down the note but I was in a hurry before I went away so I forgot to add that in there lol**_

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CHAPTER EIGHT:

"So… you're saying that this music box sent you here?" Rosa asked. James nodded. He had told her the story of how he got the box from an old woman while he was on his way home from a day spent riding.

"I believe it did," He sighed and sat back down on the bed he occupied in Rosa's guest bedroom. He had managed to get the box out of her hands so she didn't open it as he feared she would.

"Well, watching a tonne of movies seems to have some sort of good consequence," Rosa laughed quietly to herself.

"What are you going to do?" Rosa asked, suddenly serious. James shrugged.

"I do not know, if I open this it may very well send me back to 1914," He said. Rosa nodded.

"And you don't want to go back?" She asked, moving to sit beside him.

"I do want to go back, to see my mother and Edward, but I don't want to go back to the war," he explained.

"Who's Edward?" Rosa asked.

"He is the man my mother remarried a few years after my father died, it took her a while but she needed to do it for the both of us; she couldn't afford to raise a son on her own," James said. Rosa nodded. There was still a lot he hadn't revealed to her about himself and that was one of those things she guessed.

"What if I went with you?" Rosa asked. James looked at her, stunned, shocked but there was a hint of… what was it, happiness perhaps? Rosa saw.

"Y-you couldn't possibly, you have a life here and, and it is a very dangerous time, 1914, I wouldn't want you hurt, who knows where we would end up if we were both to go back, what if we end up in the middle of a battle zone? Right into the line of fire?" James asked. Rosa shrugged.

"I doubt that device would send us into a battle zone when it took you out of one to save you," She mused.

"And no, I don't really have much of a life here, all I do is research history, but to go back and experience it for myself would be amazing," She smiled. James shook his head.

"No, I will not take you there, I don't want you to get hurt," He sighed. Rosa threw up her hands in frustration and stood up.

"Please?" She asked. James just shook his head.

"Pretty please?" Rosa tried, it still didn't work.

"Alright, well, please don't go anywhere without at least saying goodbye," She sighed and walked out of the room.

James constantly turned the music box around in his fingers. He wanted to stay, but he needed to go back. He knew that. He wanted to be with Rosa, but she could not come with him, it was too dangerous.

Would the device even allow someone from the future to go back into the past? Perhaps it didn't work that way.

It had been at least a month and a half now since James had been sent into the future and met Rosa. Would it be right or wrong to go back? He didn't belong in the future, but would he be dead if he went back? If he went back would he end up on the back of Joey, about to charge into a German camp, only to be shot by machine guns?

James decided not to think much further on the subject. He instead got up and went into the living room where he found Rosa sat in front of the television. What he found intriguing was that she was watching what she said was called a cartoon; this cartoon movie had horses in it.

"What is this?" He asked. Rosa looked up at him briefly and looked away as he sat down beside her on the sofa.

"Spirit," Rosa said flatly. She was obviously upset about James not wanting to take her back to 1914 because it is 'too unsafe'

James and Rosa sat in silence as the movie progressed.

_"For the first time in my life, I felt my heart torn two ways…"_

"I have that feeling as well," James thought. He almost felt that he could relate Joey exactly to the horse in the cartoon film.

Spirit was a curious horse, so was Joey. Spirit was a stubborn horse, so was Joey. Spirit was a determined horse, so was Joey. Spirit was trying to get home, so was Joey.

He felt a sudden rush of guilt, not knowing where Joey was or if he survived the machine guns. His owner, Albert, would be devastated if he found out James hadn't taken care of Joey like he said he would.

James knew he had to go back; he had to find Joey and return him to the boy.

James stood up and headed back to the guest bedroom.

"Where are you going?" Rosa asked, curious and a little worried. She stood up and rushed after him, which would be embarrassing if her were only going to the bathroom. But he wasn't.

"I realised something and I urgently need to go back," James sighed, picking up the music box form his bed.

"Let me come with you," Rosa said.

"No, as much as I would like to remain with you it will be too dangerous; I don't even know if I will end up in the right time period," James said. He reached out and pulled her into a hug, which was rather bold of him to do so.

"If you let me go with you and you do end up in another time period, at least you won't be alone… right?" Rosa tried to argue a point to let him take her.

"Please Rosa, I would hate to see you hurt," James sighed and pulled away from her. Rosa didn't let him go however.

"Please, it would be such an amazing experience to go back in time; do you know how many people have done that? Gone back in time?" She asked. James shook her head.

"No one, you don't count of course because you went into the future, but even that is still pretty amazing… but still!" Rosa argued. James just shook his head.

"I have no purpose here, I have a lot of knowledge about the past, but what if it is completely different to what is in the books? Please let me go with you, I will get down on my knees and beg if I have to," Rosa said, she was about to move when James stopped her.

"Please don't do that," He said "My answer will not alter, as much as I wish I could take you, I do not want to put you at risk," He sighed "What if you exposed things form the future that haven't been invented yet?" He asked.

"I wouldn't do that, I swear, all I want is to experience the past for myself," Rosa hesitated at the next part of her answer, but she said it none the less "And I want to be with you, it would be devastating to let you go," She said, looking away from his gaze.

"Perhaps I can come back," He sighed, turning the box in his hands.

"What if you can't?" Rosa asked. She didn't want to let him go now. She knew this day would come and she knew it was a mistake to form feelings for the man, but it was far too late to change anything now.

James pulled Rosa close to him again, this time tilting her chin to look into her deep blue eyes one last time. He kissed her. He actually did it. James thought he wouldn't have the courage to do it, but he did and damn was it good!

Her lips were so soft against his. He would regret letting her go, but he had to. He didn't belong here with her. He couldn't take her, tear her away from everything she knew and loved here.

Reluctantly, James pulled away.

"Goodbye, Rosa," He said and opened the music box. James shut his eyes and let the sweet tune carry him, back through time and space, back to where he belonged.

What James didn't realise, however, was that Rosa had reached out to grab his hand before he was taken away.

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	9. Travelling companion

_**Who knows the quote? :P Anyway, here's the next chapter for today :) I have been neglecting my other stories to write this one, but I'm going through the phases xD Don't forget to review c:**_

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CHAPTER NINE:

Travelling through time was strange when you weren't unconscious from being shot. It gave you the sense of falling into a bottomless pit… only when the pit eventually reached the bottom, you couldn't move. You felt winded; the air was ripped from your lungs but eventually returned as the world began to take on colour.

James awoke lying on his back. He gazed up at the trees before his eyes and marvelled at the way the light shone through them. As his senses returned, he could hear birds singing from the treetops and the sound of his own breath as his lungs rose and fell. What was strange was that there was a weight on his chest. Not a metaphorical weight, but the actual weight of an object.

James lifted his head up and gazed down the length of his own body… only to find that it was not his own he was looking at, but a woman's body. The woman was familiar, he knew her.

Rosa.

Oh dear god.

The woman lifted her head and looked around. When she saw James she smiled at him, but that smile soon faded when he didn't return the smile, instead he was frowning. Rosa moved off his chest and made to stand up. The captain did the same.

"What in heaven's name are you doing here?" James asked as he stood in front of her.

"I-I don't know," Rosa sighed. She knew exactly what she had done. She had grabbed his hand before he had travelled back to the past. Rosa knew he would be angry or upset, but it wouldn't last… would it?

James sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, one hand on his left hip.

"You shouldn't be here," He said, looking around the two of them. He recognised their surroundings. They were standing on the path where the old woman had given him the music box.

"Yeah, well I'm here now and you can't do much about that," Rosa smirked.

"I could send you back," James argued. Rosa just smiled and shook her head.

"You wouldn't," She simply said.

"And why wouldn't I?" He asked.

"Because it would be dangerous going on my own, wouldn't it" Rosa said it as more of a statement than a question "You couldn't guarantee that I would go back to 2012," She said. James sighed, that was exactly why… and he was secretly happy that she was with him.

"I don't even know if we are in 1914, Rosa, what if we aren't?" James asked. The path they were on looked the same as it had when he last rode down it.

"Well, shall we go and find out?" Rosa asked.

"If you are seen in that clothing people will think ill of you," James said, gesturing to Rosa favourite navy blue sweater, black skinny jeans and light brown ankle boots.

"Perhaps I can pass for a man," Rosa shrugged. James shook his head, fighting the smirk that wanted to etch its way across his face.

"I highly doubt you would pass, you are not very manly," He said. Rosa sighed and looked at his attire. He was wearing a light pair of slacks and a blue shirt she had brought him.

"Anyway, if this is the path that I think we are on, I believe my home is not far from here," James said.

"Right-o, let's go," Rosa smirked as she looped her arm through James's. James sighed but led her along.

They walked for about ten minutes before finally coming out on a long stony driveway, leading to a large three story house.

Rosa stopped in front of the house. It was beautiful. The house was painted white, but had dark blue outlining the windows and doorframe. There was a trellis on the left side of the house that had vines winding up to the large balcony on the second floor.

"This house is beautiful," She said quietly. James smirked and pulled her along.

"It is quite nice," he mused.

When they got to the front door, James took caution and decided to knock. If they were in a different time period and someone else owned the property then it would be rather awkward to just walk in.

Thankfully a familiar face opened the door.

"Master Nicholls, back so soon are we?" The butler asked, stepping aside to allow James and Rosa to enter.

"And you have brought along a lady friend! How fantastic!" He exclaimed, tipping his head to Rosa like a gentleman.

"Where is my mother?" James asked.

"She is in the front parlour I believe," The butler said. James thanked him and the butler shut the door.

"Master Nicholls, may I inquire as to why the lady here is in improper clothing?" The butler asked. James's eye widened and he looked to Rosa.

"Ah, well, Miss Miller here had explained to me that she had torn her last dress whilst riding and ah, had to borrow some of her brother's clothing, hence the pants," James explained.

"Would you please be so good as to fetch her something fitting to wear for the time being?" James asked. The butler nodded.

"I shall have a seamstress take her measurements, if you will follow me miss," The man said, walking towards a set of stairs.

"Parsons will get you something to wear, I will inform my mother of your presence and come up with some reason as to our meeting and your lack of housing I guess," James whispered as Rosa turned to follow the butler.

Parsons was a short, plump man with greying hair and a moustache. He was dressed immaculately. But the first thing that came to mind when Rosa saw the man was the board game 'Cluedo'

"Please wait in here for a moment, I shall send for a maid to fetch a dress for you to wear for the time being," Parsons said, closing the door behind him.

Rosa took the time to examine the room she was in. There was a large bed with delicately engraved designs on the headboard and posts. In the far corner of the room was a desk and in the corner opposite it was a large wooden dresser.

Rosa sat on the edge of a window seat and looked out at the backyard. There was a beautiful looking garden was located right outside of the back door and to the left of the house along a line of trees she saw a stable. Rosa looked out to the horizon, there were vast fields littering the beautiful country side, hills cause the bottom of the horizon to take on a lumpy shape. It was quite beautiful. If Rosa had a horse she would want to live in a place such as this.

Looking out at the hills on the horizon, a quote from a movie ran through Rosa's head. _Keep a weather eye on the horizon_.

There was a sharp knock on the door and an old maid entered the room, carrying a bundle of white material.

"Miss Miller, I have been informed to bring you a dress to wear, would you like assistance?" The maid asked. Rosa moved closer and picked up the dress to examine it. The dress was long, to cover ones ankles, Rosa thought. It looked a lot like the dress Kiera Knightly's character, Lizzie, wore to the ball in the film Pride and Prejudice.

"Um, yes thank you, it has been a while since I wore a dress like this," Rosa said. The last time she wore a long dress was to her high school ball.

Rosa was thankful that the maid didn't say anything about her strange undergarments. She didn't know if they even wore bras, in fact, considering how much she knew about history, she hardly knew anything about the fashion.

After about ten minutes of dressing, Rosa was shown to the front parlour where James sat with his mother. Rosa protested about her boots, she had told the maid that she felt a lot more comfortable wearing them than the slippers the maid had presented.

The maid showed Rosa into the parlour and James and his mother stood at her presence.

"Miss Miller, it is a pleasure to meet you, my son has just told me all about you!" James's mother smiled and greeted Rosa with a friendly curtsey. Rosa curtsied back, not wanting to seem rude.

"It is also a pleasure to meet you, Mrs…?" Rosa didn't know how she should address James's mother, was she Mrs Nicholls? Or was that James's deceased father's surname, not his step father's?

"Oh forgive me, my name is Diana Scott, formerly Nicholls," She said. Rosa nodded.

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Scott," She smiled. James's mother gestured for the three of them to sit down. James sat beside Rosa on one of the antique light blue sofas and Mrs Scott on the opposite sofa.

"My son tells me that he met you along the path he usually rides, dressed in men's clothing," Diana smirked. Rosa blushed. _They were actually woman's clothing!_ Rosa felt like screaming.

"Yes, I ah, tore my last dress while riding a few days ago and I had to borrow some of my brother's clothing," Rosa explained, going along with the lie James had told the butler.

"I don't believe I have had the pleasure of meeting your family, no one has spoken of any Miller's in gatherings," Diana slightly frowned in wonder.

"Ah, that's because my parents died a while ago. My brother and I moved here about a month ago but he has gone off with the army," Rosa said. Diana gasped.

"Oh my, a young woman such as yourself living alone? How dreadful," She exclaimed. Rosa nodded. She didn't know how much James had told his mother of her, he didn't seem to be giving her any indicators that she was saying something wrong though.

"Yeah, it gets quite lonely, but I can manage," Rosa said, partially truthful. Before she had met James, she was alone and a little lonely when her previous roommate moved out.

"I won't have it, you will be welcome to stay here, dear," Diana said firmly.

"Thank you for your kindness, but I wouldn't want to be an inconvenience," Rosa blushed.

"Oh it will be no inconvenience and my son seems to have taken a liking to you which is very rare; he hasn't brought a girl home before," Diana smirked. Rosa laughed lightly.

"Is that so?" She asked, looking at James with a grin. James's cheeks flamed red.

"Well, mother, you two have met now, I would like to show Rosa around seeing as she will be staying with us for a while," He said and stood up.

"Oh alright, I bet he is itching to show you the stables, he loves horses, just like his father," Diana smiled.

James led Rosa through the house and out the back door, into the beautiful gardens.

"Firstly I would like to say that you look lovely in that dress and second, do you know how to ride a horse?" James asked.

"Yes, I grew up on an American farm," Rosa laughed "I was practically raised in the saddle," She said. James smiled.

"Good, no problem there then," He said. They continued to walk around the garden and into the stable. There were five horses. James made his way to a light brown horse and began to saddle it up for Rosa.

"I am capable of saddling a horse, James," Rosa laughed. James paused what he was doing and stepped away, allowing Rosa to finish saddling the horse.

James moved along to his own horse, not Joey, but a horse with a dark brown coat and black socks, rather than white like Joey's.

"Um, James… do you know what date it is?" Rosa asked. James nodded.

"It is in fact May 1913, mother mentioned that I was on leave from the army for a few months," He said. Rosa nodded.

"If we remain here, I'm not going to let you go to war," Rosa said "You can't, I won't let you die and be flung into another time period in the future where it won't be me you meet," Rosa tried to smile but couldn't. She didn't want James to die all over again. She wouldn't allow it, especially not since he kissed her.

The memory of their kiss came back to Rosa instantly; it wasn't passionate, but chaste. Yep, he wasn't going anywhere if Rosa could help it.

"Let's not think about that for the time being," James said. He hadn't brought Joey yet, so perhaps if he went to Devon with the army and brought him, he could instantly return him to the boy.

The two of them finished getting the horses ready and mounted them. James was surprised to find that Rosa wasn't sitting side saddle like a lady should; she was in fact sitting with one leg on either side of the horse. Rosa noticed his starring.

"Just because it's a different time period, don't expect me to change much," She smirked and gently tapped the horse's side with the heel of her boot, causing the horse to walk out of the stable.

Although the war hadn't started yet, Rosa needed to figure out a way to keep James form going to France, or to find away to go to France with him. But for now, she was content with letting James show her the past, although everything she touched she could feel, it didn't seem real, it didn't seem like she was actually in the early 1900's. It was odd.

Rosa was an open minded person, she didn't strongly believe in god or magic, nor did she strongly believe in science and the big bang. She was open to whatever the world threw at her. Time travel was just one of the many strange things the world decided to throw into her life. Not that she was complaining.

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	10. A chat with mum

_**Here ya go, chapter ten :) **_

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CHAPTER TEN:

James enjoyed having Rosa with him in his own time period, she suited it very well; from the way she dressed to how polite and well mannered she was around his mother, yet when he was alone with her she was still very much herself. Rosa had told James that she wasn't going to change just because she was in a different time period and he was glad she wouldn't, he liked who Rosa was and he wouldn't even attempt to try and change her for the world.

James didn't like the idea of having Rosa interact with people from his time too much, just in case she said something about the future. How hard would that be to explain? He was hesitant enough when his mother asked to speak with Rosa alone when they got back from their short ride.

_What if she says something improper?_ He thought. He wanted Rosa to be her own person but would it hurt to try and convince her to act differently and not so… unladylike?

_Don't be absurd James! She will do fine, mother will just ask her about her life and what she enjoys doing, Rosa is a smart woman, she will be able to handle herself fine._ He told himself.

Rosa already liked James's mother, she was elegant and spoke in a manner that would make you think she was a Queen! Even the way she sat was graceful; back straight, chin up, legs on a slight angle with knees together and one ankle tucked behind the other. Her hair was in a neat bun atop her head and her makeup was light. The woman reminded Rosa a lot of James; she was friendly and had a certain air about her that made you feel comfortable to be around. Diana looked a lot like James as well… or vice versa because she is the mother… She had the same coloured eyes and slender lips as her son and the same thin, light brown hair. The only noticeable differences between Diana and James were their shape. James was tall and slender while Diana was quite petite. She was still taller than Rosa by a couple inches; she would at least be 5'5 while Rosa was only 5'1. James had a more bony and angular faced than his mother, her face was more round and soft and her cheek bones weren't as defined.

"So Miss Miller, what do you do with your time while your brother is away?" Diana asked, sipping her tea. Rosa also had a tea cup in her hand but didn't really take much notice of it, she was still admiring that she had actually gone back in time.

"Well, I don't really do much, I usually spend my time outside with my horse and wait upon getting a letter from my brother," Rosa lied.

"Oh I can see why James has taken a liking to you, he too spends a lot of time with his horse," Diana smiled "Since you are to stay here I will have someone fetch your horse!" She said, gesturing for a maid to come over to where they were sitting in the parlour where she had met James's mother upon arriving.

"Oh no, my horse is… is… is dead, yeah, it died a few days ago," Rosa said, putting on a sad face.

"Oh dear, well, you are welcome to use any of our horses, my husband and I don't go riding often, it is only James who really uses them," Diana offered. Rosa smiled.

"That is really kind of you," She smiled. Rosa admired at how well James's mother looked for her age, she must have been around forty five, but she still looked only thirty.

"Please forgive me, but your accent, it doesn't sound British," Diana said, her brow slightly creasing.

"Yes, um, I was born in America and I moved here when I was thirteen with my parents and my brother. I was raised on a farm so that's why I quite like horses, basically raised in the saddle," Rosa laughed "They died a few years after that and my brother took care of me from there, he still does, even though he is in the army," Rosa said, trying to ramble on a bit to make it seem a little more truthful.

"I am sorry to hear of their passing," Diana said "What does your brother do in the army?" she asked. Rosa mulled over what to say for a while, she couldn't say anything about the First World War as it has not yet started…

"I believe he is an officer cadet now in the infantry, he doesn't tell me too much about what he does while he's away, just when he is moved further up in the ranks," Rosa said, hoping that Diana wouldn't push the subject any further, otherwise she would have to make up more lies and remember them.

"May I ask his name?" Diana asked. Shit. Hopefully she doesn't have any ties to the army…

"Ah," Rosa paused, what would be a common name for this time period?

"John," Rosa said "John Miller," She added.

"My son doesn't tell me too much about what he does in the army either, he is in the cavalry, not surprising due to his love of horses," Diana laughed lightly. Rosa smiled and finally took a sip of the now cold tea she was holding.

"How long might I ask, have you known my son for?" Diana asked. Rosa reminisced about what James had told his mother earlier.

"Well, I met him just after I moved here; I was out riding one day and my horse almost run straight into his!" Rosa lied again.

"That explains why he has been out riding more than he usually would!" Diana smiled "I believe he has taken quite a liking to you," She smirked. Rosa felt her cheeks redden.

"I'm sure it's nothing, we are friends," Rosa smiled awkwardly.

"My dear, James has never introduced me to any girl he has met, I was rather sad that he never did, he never really spoke of women," Diana said "He hadn't even spoken of you until today when he brought you here," She added. _No he wouldn't have, he didn't know me then!_ Rosa felt like laughing.

"He is a very nice man, I am glad I met him," Rosa said, that was true, she was glad.

"I am sure he is very anxious to have you back, and I fear I have kept you from him too long," Diana laughed "I will see you again when we have dinner and I apologise that my husband will not be joining us this evening as he has been called away from town for a couple of days," She said, standing up. Rosa stood as well and thanked her for the tea.

Rosa found James waiting by the back door; he was admiring the view of the fields. She decided to sneak up on him and put her hands over his eyes.

"Guess who," Rosa smirked, she could feel James smile.

"Parsons?" James asked jokingly. Rosa removed her hands and stepped in front of him.

"Rosa," He smiled "How did it go? Was my mother kind to you?" He asked, sounding a little concerned.

"She was very kind, I quite like her, she reminds me a lot of you," Rosa admitted. James chuckled.

Just then there was a loud knock on the front door that stood almost exactly parallel to the back door. Rosa looked over James's shoulder and saw Parsons open the door to greet two men in uniform.

One man had a funky looking moustache and dark coloured hair that looked slightly copper in the sunlight, he looked very serious, and the other had slicked back dark brown hair and looked bubbly and happy. He grinned when he saw James turn to look at the men.

"What brings you fine men here?" James asked, taking hold of Rosa's hand and leading her across the foyer.

_Well this is new_ Rosa thought as she looked at her hand in James's.

"Can friends not meet without reason? The major and I came to ask if you- why hello there," The younger looking of the two men greeted Rosa.

"Gentlemen, this is Miss Rosa Miller, Rosa this is Major Jamie Stewart," James said, gesturing to the serious man with the moustache.

"And this is Lieutenant Charlie Waverly," James gestured to the man who had first greeted her.

"A pleasure to meet you ma'am," The lieutenant smiled, reaching for her hand and kissing her knuckles. Major Stewart however just tipped his head slightly and also said it was a pleasure to meet her.

"It is a pleasure to meet you both," Rosa smiled politely. Resuming his previous sentence, Charlie asked if James wanted to go into town with them to go dancing.

"That sounds like a splendid idea!" James grinned, squeezing Rosa's hand lightly.

"You are welcome along too Miss Miller, James needs a partner," Charlie grinned.

"Thank you," Rosa smiled, her cheeks turning a shade of pink.

"And what of you Jamie? Will you be dancing as well or merely observing?" James asked. To Rosa's surprise, the Major actually cracked a grin.

"I shall decide when the time comes, I am not particularly one for dancing," He said. Charlie nudged his side.

"We just need to get a few drinks into him," He grinned.

The men left after about twenty minutes. Rosa was surprised that they were in their uniform; the same one James had shown up in 2012 with. She figured that not everyone can have leave at the same time though.

When the Lieutenant brought up dancing, Rosa immediately remembered the time James had caught her rocking out in her living room. She inwardly face palmed.

"I do believe you enjoy dancing, do you not?" James asked Rosa with a smirk. _And he brought it up… great _she thought. Rosa held her head high.

"Indeed, it is quite enjoyable," She said in a posh tone. James chuckled. Rosa wondered if he was good at dancing, would he have been taught from childhood?

Dancing with James would be interesting.

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	11. Lies and dancing

_**Chapter eleven here :) Time to dance?**_

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CHAPTER ELEVEN:

James wondered if he should try and convince Rosa out of going dancing, she could reveal something to his friends about the future; especially if she were to drink along with them.

_That is absolutely preposterous, James! Get a hold of yourself! Rosa will be fine; you know she won't reveal anything about the time travelling _James argued inwardly about the situation. He simply decided that he wouldn't get drunk as he believed Charlie would like to, he would make sure nothing out of the ordinary was said. Perhaps he would briefly speak to her the next day before they head into town?

Rosa was excited to be going dancing with James and his friends; she was excited that she would see the town of Somerset, to see how different it would be to the town of Somerset in 2012. She had gone there once to visit an aunt of hers and she quite liked the place.

Luckily the evening before they went out, a maid had brought Rosa a whole bunch of dresses and shoes to wear (Although Rosa planned to stick with wearing her boots)

Rosa decided to wear a fairly plain light blue dress in a similar fashion to the white one she was first presented with, she even set it out on the window seat in the room she had changed in earlier… it was now to be her room while staying with James and his family.

There was a light knock at Rosa's door as she was putting pulling her navy blue sweater over her head. She did as a comfort thing.

"Come in," She called out as she flung her hair out from the back of her sweater. She wasn't all that surprised to find that it was James who entered.

"I was just wondering how you were settling in," He smiled and shut the door behind him.

"It's all lovely, thank you so much," She smiled. She had kind of forced the whole thing on James, being the one who grabbed his hand before he travelled back in time and all, but she would never regret it.

"So… are those two men who were here earlier… do you know them just from the army or do you go back further?" Rosa asked, trying to pick up conversation.

"I went to school with Jamie right from the very first day we began we became friends and Charlie joined us later on when we were in secondary school," James said. Rosa nodded, James began telling her of a story about the men while they were at school together… something about a prank they pulled on some teacher; Rosa was too busy watching his lips to properly recall what he was saying. She remembered the way they felt against hers just before he said goodbye.

"Rosa?" James pulled her out of her trance with his lips, her eyes immediately refocusing on his eyes; those magnificent blue eyes…

"What? Yes?" Rosa asked, shaking her head slightly; James just chuckled.

"I believe the fairies have caught you, it has been a long day and I should probably leave you to sleep now," James smiled and stood up.

"Ok, sure, yeah," Rosa nodded and stood up with him. They stood in the middle of her room for a while looking back and forth at each other before James took her hand, kissing her knuckles and then left wishing her a good night's sleep.

Rosa didn't care what her feelings did anymore, she was with James in his time period and they knew the source of how he was pushed through time so there was nothing more to worry about in the time travelling sense. She smiled as she looked down at her hand, the one he kissed and lay down on her bed. What the heck, she admitted she liked him; perhaps he liked her too in the same way, perhaps the holding of her hand meant something other than trying to impress friends and perhaps the kiss before he decided to leave 2012 meant something other than just goodbye.

"Now, my friends will probably ask you a lot of questions tonight, like where you are form and such; just go along with what we have been telling my mother," James said as they were driven in James's step father's car to town.

"I know, I promise I won't say anything I'm not supposed to or that is improper; I will act like a lady, blah, blah," Rosa rolled her eyes teasingly.

"No, please, be yourself, don't worry too much about acting as a lady of this time should; but just don't be too outright," James said. He sighed "I hate telling you what you should and shouldn't do, please forgive me, I am just a little nervous," He said. Rosa smiled at him and put her hand over his.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," She said reassuring. James smiled and squeezed her hand.

He didn't let it go until they got out of the car.

"Ah there he is!" Charlie grinned as James and Rosa walked into the hall. Apparently dances were held here often since there was a kitchen and bar.

"My friends," James greeted the men; Rosa laughed inwardly as they embraced each other with a hand shake and a 'manly' hug.

"Miss Miller, it is a pleasure to see you again," Charlie smiled at Rosa; Jamie did the same although his smile was a little more reserved.

"I do not believe we have made the acquaintance of any Millers before," Charlie frowned slightly.

"Ah yes, I only moved here recently with my brother after my parents died," Rosa explained.

"I am sorry to hear that, Miss, how, might I ask, did they pass on?" Jamie asked. Rosa noticed James send him a look, telling him the subject was delicate even though the two of them knew it was a lie.

"My father succumbed to a flu outbreak and my mother became terribly sick after his passing, she was so heartbroken when he died she became depressed and wasn't able to take proper care of herself," Rosa lied.

"I am so sorry Miss Miller, you have my deepest condolences," Charlie said, Rosa tried to act a little sad, this caused Charlie to change the subject a little.

"Pray tell, who is your brother?" He asked.

"John Miller, he is an officer cadet in the army; he left soon after we arrived here," Rosa said, trying to remember each little detail of the lie.

"It would be wonderful to make his acquaintance," Charlie smiled.

"Unfortunately I do not believe he will be back for some time, apparently his regiment is doing some sort of special training," Rosa lied.

"Oh, well that is a shame indeed," Charlie sighed "So, you live on your own then? Am I correct?" He asked. Rosa nodded.

"She did until my mother offered her a room in our home, she didn't accept Rosa living all on her own," James said.

"How about I get us something to drink now?" He offered, trying to take the subject of family off Rosa.

"Would you care to help me, Rosa?" He asked, Rosa nodded and followed James over to the bar. They ordered some ale and took it back to Jamie and Charlie, a band had just begun to play some music; not the sort of music Rosa was used to hearing but it was still enjoyable and happy.

Instead of Charlie asking Rosa questions this time round, Jamie decided to ask her the next question.

"How did the two of you meet?" He asked.

"We were out rising one day and our horses almost collided with each other, from there we became friends," Rosa laughed a little. The music suddenly started to speed up and people began to form in the centre of the hall to dance.

James was about to ask Rosa for the dance but Charlie stepped in before he had the chance. Rosa accepted politely and let Charlie lead her onto the floor.

"I'm afraid I do not know how to dance very well," She said truthfully; as much as she liked dancing about in her own home, she wasn't anywhere near coordinated.

"Neither do I, but I figured that James and the quiet major Stewart over there would like to have a chat; they have been friends since the day they started school y'know," Charlie smirked.

"You seem happy with her," Jamie said, causing James to turn his gaze away from Rosa dancing.

"Yes, she is quite a fantastic woman," James smiled.

"She is rather strange, I noticed not once in any of her sentences did she greet either of us formally," He said as he too watched Rosa and Charlie jump about.

"Perhaps she didn't feel the need to do so concerning the setting we are in," James shrugged. The major just huffed.

When the dance had ended and a slower one started up, James decided to interrupt Charlie and Rosa to ask Rosa for the dance.

"She's all yours," Charlie grinned and walked back over to the Major.

Rosa felt her cheeks burn as they positioned themselves for the dance. James rested his left hand on the small of her back and she placed her right hand on his shoulder; their other hands holding each other gently. To Rosa it felt like a rather intimate position considering who her dance partner was and how she felt towards him. He led her gracefully around the floor, moving past other couples with ease. James certainly was good at dancing; Rosa figured he probably was taught from childhood. From the way he held her to the way he moved screamed that he had tonnes of practise… or perhaps he was naturally good. Even when Rosa stepped on his feet a few time he didn't seem to falter.

As they waltzed away to the music, Rosa and James remained silent; content with staring into each other's eyes until the dance was over. Rosa smiled and commented on what a great dancer he was, to keep the atmosphere from turning awkward.

"I have never seen our dear friend so dedicated to a dance; he truly must like her, I don't ever recall him being too absorbed with a woman before," Charlie chuckled. Jamie even cracked a smile.

"He's in love Charlie, I believe our dear friend is in love," The major said.

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	12. Finally!

_**Short chapter, I'm sorry ;c But hopefully you will like what's in it :3**_

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CHAPTER TWELVE:

Rosa thoroughly enjoyed dancing and talking with James's friends, they were nice men; even Major Stewart put on a smile while speaking to her occasionally.

Rosa enjoyed spending time in the Edwardian era. The people seemed so much more civilized and kind. You say hello to someone on the street and they don't flip you off like they would in 2012, instead they kindly greet you with a smile.

"So do you know when you have to go back and do training at stuff?" Rosa asked as she sat with James under a blossoming cherry tree in the garden.

"No, I do not recall having leave form the regiment this time of year before," James said.

"Perhaps one of your friends knows?" Rosa asked. James shook his head.

"Yes, but it they would think it rather strange of me not knowing when I have to return," He said

"Perhaps you could ask, that is if you don't mind," James suggested. Rosa smirked.

"And what would I say? _Dear James seems to have forgotten when he must return to his daily duties in the regiment,_" Rosa laughed.

"Perhaps leave out the first part and just ask when I must return?" James offered, a grin dancing around his thin lips.

"Oh, but there is no fun in that," Rosa said, returning him a sly smile. James looked so perfect sitting there beside her, under the cool shade of the tree; his blue eyes sparkled and a lock of his light brown hair had fallen out of place in the gentle breeze; Rosa had to fight the urge to smooth it back, just as an excuse to touch him.

"Please, I beg you not to make a fool of me," James said, trying his best to sound like he was begging her.

"What shall I get out of this little arrangement, if I do not mention you have lost your mind?" Rosa teased. James chuckled.

"I shall take you someplace I found while out riding one day, it is very scenic, I'm sure you would love it," James offered.

"Love is a strong word," Rosa said "Although it's meaning is disregarded, in my time period, by twelve year old girls describing their 'feelings' for the 'boyfriend' they have had for a day," Rosa rambled; seriously though, there is no respect for the word.

James smiled at Rosa "In my time period it is seldom disregarded," He said. Everything seemed more intense at that moment. Both smiles had dropped from their faces as they stared into each other's eyes. Rosa's gaze briefly flicked from James's eyes to his lips; which James must have noticed, as he began to lean closer to her.

_This is it_ He thought _this time I will do it properly_.

James placed his palm along Rosa's jaw, his thumb caressing her cheeks and his long fingers stretching behind her ear and draping upon the side of her neck. He pulled her closer; eyes flickered between eyes and lips. As they got even closer their lips mere millimetres apart…

"James!" A voice called.

The two immediately ripped apart; cheeks burning red, hearts pounding. James abruptly stood to his feet, almost hitting his head on a low hanging branch. Rosa followed suit and stood with him.

A man was walking towards them; from what Rosa could see from the distance was his dark brown hair and his neat clothing. He was also slightly round in the belly.

"William," James greeted the man as he drew close. Rosa noticed he was a rather old fellow, perhaps in his late fifties? He had few wrinkles, but otherwise his complexion was well maintained. What was their secret?

"Ah, William, this is Miss Rosa Miller," James said turning slightly to Rosa "Rosa, this is my stepfather, William Scott," He said. The elder man bowed his head politely, Rosa curtsied; it was the only polite greeting gesture she could manage.

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Miller," James's step father smiled.

"It is a pleasure to meet you also," Rosa smiled in return.

"My wife tells me that you will be staying with us for a while," Mr Scott said "It is nice to see James finally introducing us to a lady _friend_," His grin stretched to each of his deep brown eyes, no doubt he had seen the whole, almost, kiss scene.

"Indeed," James simply but politely said, obviously wanting to shoo the man away.

Rosa spotted someone in standing in the back door; James's mother. She seemed to be trying to get their attention. It worked as James and Mr Scott both followed Rosa's gaze.

"William may I speak with you?" Diana asked. William nodded and turned back to his step son and _lady_ friend.

"Forgive me but I must go; perhaps we can continue this introduction during our evening meal," He said.

As he walked away James turned to Rosa; her cheeks resumed their redness. Just as he looked like he was going to say something, he stopped himself. No heart to heart chat about their feelings?

"I think I left the stables unlocked," James said quickly "Forgive me," He sighed and walked away in the direction of the stables. Rosa slumped back against the tree. What was up with him?

James entered the stables and leaned against his horses stable. His stallion, sensing something was wrong, nudged James's shoulder with his nose. James his return patted the stallion's neck.

"What's wrong with me? I did it once, why is it so hard to do it again?" He asked, mainly to himself since he didn't expect his horse to reply.

James mulled over his feelings; they were strong for Rosa, he was taken with her so why was it so hard to kiss her?

The first time he had kissed Rosa was on instinct, he thought he would never see her again so he did it in the last minute before he departed for his own era. Rosa was here with him though, they were both content with being in each other's company; James should have felt anger when she had gone back in time with him, but he didn't, he was overjoyed.

James decided that he was just being a coward, what was there to fear? That she would disappear as she feared he would when he was with her in 2012? That was out of question now because the pocket watch was safely hidden in one of James's drawers.

_Get back out there James, imagine how confused Rosa is! You were about to kiss her and then decided to run off to hide_ He mentally growled at himself.

_Tell her how you feel! Don't be a coward! _

James pushed himself away from his horses stall and burst out of the stables in a jog.

Rosa was still slumped beneath the tree, playing with the grass around the roots. She looked up when she heard his fast foot falls. Rosa stood up as James got closer to her. For a moment while she was standing there she thought he wouldn't stop and would come crashing into her… but instead he picked her up in a hug.

Quickly setting Rosa back down on her feet, James gently gripped her upper arms and beamed at her.

"I sincerely apologise for my actions before, it was extremely rude of me but I needed a little time to sort out my feelings," He began.

"Its fine, I understand," Rosa said.

"I'm in love with you, Rosa, I am madly, deeply, passionately, in love with you," He blurted out. In the back of Rosa's mind she thought she had heard that phrase from somewhere…

"And I certainly hope you feel the same," He added, looking at her hopefully.

Rosa smiled and moved his large hands off her arms and taking them in her own smaller ones. She did feel the same; her feelings for the man had gradually been building up, they were now at bursting point and were now able to show themselves with James's words.

"I love you too James, proper love you, not 2012 twelve year old love," Rosa smiled, James chuckled softly as he moved one of his hands out of hers and brought it up to her face; caressing it in the same manner as before they were interrupted. They leaned in closer to one another, their lips _finally _meeting. This time it was not a chaste _goodbye_, but a breathtaking _hello_.

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	13. Memories, dreams and a secret place

**_This chapter probably isn't that good... it's sort of just filling in while my brain is trying to work out how to move the story on , but I figured I should upload something :L Here ya go c:_**

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

Rosa didn't know too much about courtship, but she had heard it was another form of dating; so when James asked if he could court her she didn't object.

Diana had explained to Rosa what courtship entailed. She had explained that courtship is where you get to know each other and decide if you would like to further the relationship to engagement and marriage… so yeah, basically dating.

"I am so happy James asked to court you, dear, I knew he fancied you," Diana smiled; she was overjoyed when James had informed them all over dinner.

"Yes, I am delighted he asked," Rosa smiled, this wasn't a lie.

James's mother decided to tell Rosa many stories about her younger years when she was courted by men, as they sat drinking tea while James and William were in the study speaking.

Rosa let her mind wander off; she thought of the moment James had burst out of the stable and confessed his love for her, she thought of the moment he had asked to court her when they had broken out of their kiss.

She liked how he had asked her, he was so polite and charming; unlike the men in her time period who were childish and rude.

When Rosa was in high school and her first, and pretty much only, boyfriend asked her if she 'wanted to go out' she got butterflies in her stomach; but when James asked:

_"Rosa Miller, I ask if you will allow me the honour to court you, for my feelings for you run deep and I would like to see where they may lead us,"_

Her chest did this weird spasm and she thought she might explode with pure joy!

James was such a gentleman and she couldn't believe how lucky she was to have met him; perhaps the pocket watch brought him to her on purpose.

One thing that was constantly on Rosa's mind though was what to do when the war started? James would be whisked away to fight, what would she do? Would she be able to go with him? Would she pull of disguising herself as a man? The latter she probably wouldn't get away with thanks to her height…

"-children," Diana's voice pulled Rosa from her thought.

"I'm sorry?" Rosa asked.

"Do you plan to have children," Diana repeated, Rosa's eye brows raised in utter surprise.

Rosa hadn't given children much thought at all lately; she was only twenty four and was still deciding on a career… although that may not happen anytime soon if she is to stay in this time period with James, so having children was pushed to the back of her mind. Rosa, however, loved children, ever since one of her aunts gave birth back in America.

Memories of her family suddenly invaded her mind; her mother and father, still living in America; her brother along with them. How much time would go by when she wasn't there? Would it all stop or would it keep going on as normal? Would her family miss her if she was not to return? They didn't even know where she was…

"I haven't thought much on the topic," Rosa said "I thought I may still be rather young to even consider having a child," She said, truthfully.

"I had James when I was rather young, I would have been about your age," Diana said, how old was she? If James was thirty…

"Forgive me, I do not mean to say that you should have a child now; especially not before marriage, I was simply asking if you had ever thought of it," Diana said. Rosa smiled.

"Its fine, I suppose a child would be nice," She said "I remember when one of my aunts gave birth in America, I was younger then. She had a beautiful little girl and I told myself that if I was going to have a child I would like for it to be a girl," Rosa said absentmindedly. Diana smiled.

Rosa spent the rest of the evening in Diana's company, talking about random things from their lives. Rosa was careful not to talk about anything that hadn't yet been invented or a woman should not do. To Rosa's displeasure, she didn't see James for the rest of the night.

_"Sometimes things happen that we can't control, like what happened to spot, but that doesn't change the memories we have had with him; he is in a better place now. When something dies they have to move on," Nicklaus said "Either to heaven or a new life," _

_An eight year old Rosa sat in tears on the lawn beside the grave of their family dog. _

_"Can they choose where to go?" Rosa asked. Nick nodded._

_"Yes," He said._

_"What if they don't want to go to heaven? What if they want to go stay?" Rosa asked._

_"They can't stay if their life has ended," Nick said._

_"What if they went back into the past, what if Spot chose to go back to the past and chose not to walk out in front of that car? He would still be here with us," Rosa said, readjusting the flowers around the grave._

_"Maybe, but I believe he has chosen heaven; he will be happy there, he will be able to have everything he wants, whenever he wants," Nick said "And he will always be looking down on you, to make sure you are alright," He added. Rosa smiled for the first time that day._

_"I would look down on you if I was in heaven," She said._

_"And I you," Nick said "But you don't have to worry about that, because I will always be here when you need me,"_

Rosa was awoken by a light tapping on her door. She hadn't realised it was morning, the dark curtains were wonderful.

Rosa got out of bed and quickly wrapped herself in a robe before opening the door.

"Good morning," James greeted her with a wide smile, Rosa returned it albeit a little sleepily.

"I was perhaps wondering if you would like to go out riding today; I told you I would take you somewhere as a part of our bargain," He chuckled.

"I thought I had to discretely ask Jamie when you return to training before you took me?" Rosa asked.

"Yes that is correct; good thing they are down stairs at the moment," James smirked. Rosa rolled her eyes.

"Alright, let me get dressed," She said and shut the door.

Rosa decided to go with another white dress today. She brushed through her long hair and left most of it down, only pinning up the parts that often got in her face.

"Miss Miller, a pleasure to see you once again," Jamie greeted her. That was odd; Rosa thought he didn't like her, let alone speak to her kindly.

"And you, Major Stewart," Rosa smiled in return.

"I have just stopped by to inform James that he may need a new horse soon, old Marie seems to be tiring," He said, Rosa nodded.

"Might I ask when he goes back?" Rosa asked, deciding that it was the right time to ask.

"I thought he would have told you," Jamie said, raising an eyebrow in James's direction. Rosa noticed that James gave her a glance, telling her not to make a fool of him. Rosa laughed through her nose.

"Yes, well we haven't really talked much on it," Rosa shrugged. Major Stewart nodded.

"Two days, Miss," He said. Two days? That was quicker than Rosa thought.

All she could do was nod in return. James proceeded to talk to the Major about what he will be doing during the training and what he will be teaching to the new recruits. Rosa just stood there and all she could think of is James dying. How was she going to stop it? Surely James wouldn't pull out of the war, even if he knew he was going to die, _again_.

Before Rosa knew it, the Major was leaving and James was leading her to the stables.

"Alright, so where exactly are we going?" Rosa asked as she prepared her horse.

"It's a secret," James smiled across to her. Rosa rolled her eyes playfully.

"I take it I did a good job asking Jamie when you go back then? Did I make you look like a fool?" Rosa asked cheekily. James shook his head, a grin playing on his lips.

"You did perfectly, I never doubted you though," He chuckled.

"Oh, right, I bet you didn't," Rosa laughed.

The rode in the opposite direction of the town; heading along a dirt track for a while. James remained mostly quiet for the ride; even if Rosa tried to make conversation with him it would be short.  
Perhaps he just enjoyed the peace and quiet nature offered?

"We are almost there," He said, turning back briefly to look at Rosa. Rosa nodded.

The rode down a narrow track amongst large pine trees, that towered over them. The ground was covered in pine needles and tree roots.

Rosa was glad it didn't seem to take too long to get to this place form James's home; but she could kill for her iPod. Music was a key piece in Rosa's life and although the phonograph was often playing during the day, it wasn't the modern music Rosa knew and could sing and dance to.

After another five or so minutes Rosa knew where they were going… kind of. She could hear the sound of water running, so she guessed a river.

"This is beautiful!" Rosa grinned as she jumped of her horse.

Right in front of them was a stumpy, but gorgeous waterfall; fusing with the lake beneath it. It reminded her of one she had seen in the movie _'just go with it'_

"I thought you might like it," James smiled as he too got off his own horse and took in the scenery.

He walked to the edge of the lake and crouched down beside it, running his fingers through the water to test the temperature. A thought came to mind and he smirked deviously.

"Pray tell, Rosa, can you swim?" James asked as he walked up behind her.

"Yeah, why?" Rosa asked absentmindedly. Her attention returned when she felt James swoop her up into his arms and threw her into the water.

It would have been rather funny, although ungentle manly, for James; if Rosa hadn't held onto him and pulled him with her.

"Rosa! You were supposed to let go," James chuckled as he shook his head, sending water flying from the strands of his fine hair.

"Sorry, you forgot to inform me," Rosa replied with a smirk as she splashed water at him.

The pair swam around for a while before lying on the grass at the water's edge, to dry out.

James rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow, to look at Rosa.

"Do you enjoy being here?" James asked. Rosa turned her head to look at him and smiled.

"Of course I enjoy it," She said and turned her head back to look at the sky.

"Do you miss your home?" James asked, hoping it wasn't too outright of a question. Rosa's eyes remained on the sky, the clouds that rolled over head.

"Yes, but I have ever since the day I moved from America," She said. James sat up and rested his arms on his knees.

"If you would like to go back, do not let me be the one to stop you," He said; a hint of sadness in his voice. Rosa sat up and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I don't want to leave you though," She mumbled into his chest.

"What of your family? They will surely miss you and expect to hear from you," James asked.

"Perhaps I can go back and visit them and then return here," Rosa suggested.

"You could, but what if the watch doesn't work? It may not send you back there," James said, rather pessimistically. Rosa sighed.

"Then I won't go back I guess," She shrugged. She truly did miss her parents, but she needed to stay here; she wanted to.

"Time may have stopped if I am here and if it does go on and they don't find me…" Rosa trailed off.

"You shouldn't put your family through grief, what of your brother? You are quite close to him are you not?" James asked. Rosa sighed. She missed her brother more than anything.

"I am," Rosa admitted "Can we please not talk about this? I'm sure there are more important issues," She said.

"What about you? What will happen when you have to go back through the war again?" Rosa asked. James just shrugged.

"I guess I will try to convince Jamie that it is a bad idea, perhaps I can convince him that the German's wouldn't be so daft as to leave an open camp ground undefended," He said.

"And what if he doesn't take your word and you have to go through it all over again?" Rosa asked; now she was being the pessimist.

"I don't want you to die James, you can't go through that all again and you can't go, knowing that all the other men in your regiment will endure the same fate," Rosa continued when James didn't make a move to speak.

"Why don't we talk about this some other time?" James asked quietly. Rosa sighed and stood up.

"I'm not going to stand back and let you go, I will do everything I can to make sure you don't die again," She said, brushing her fingers through her damp locks to make her look somewhat presentable.

James stood with her and pulled her close to him.

"I won't die again, for one cannot die twice," He said.

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	14. A plan is devised

_**I haven't been very on to it lately, my last few chapters aren't that great :L But the chapter after this should be a little more interesting :) QUESTION: If you wanted to write about an actor, what category would you put it under on here? ;o**_

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

James returned to training during the day; returning just before dinner (He was allowed to return home each day because he lived so close). He left just before sunrise, while Rosa was still asleep and would return just before sunset.

Rosa spent most of her days either outside with the horses or in the gardens; or she would spend it with Rosa's mother, talking with her or joining in one of the many hobbies Diana had taken up.

One particular day Diana decided to see how Rosa was at playing the piano. Rosa had grown up with a piano in her household, but she had rarely played it. Her mother often insisted that she learnt how to but Rosa was always too busy doing something else with her time.

"Have you played before?" Diana asked. Rosa nodded.

"Yes, although I am not that good. My mother insisted that I learn how to play and for a while I did but then I found other things to do," She said.

"Would you play something for me?" Diana asked as she stood beside the grand piano in one of the sitting rooms. Rosa hesitantly sat down beside on the seat and hovered her fingers over the keys.

"Please forgive me if I sound terrible, I haven't played in ages," She laughed through her nose.

"Do not worry; anything sounds beautiful on the piano, even if you make a slight mistake," Diana reassured her.

Rosa decided to play one of the only songs she knew inside out on the piano, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Lost in the music she didn't notice Diana's heartfelt expression, or her husband standing in the doorway.

"My, my! You must play for our guests after supper tonight!" Mr Scott said after Rosa finished.

"Oh, I couldn't I do not play well," Rosa blushed. She admitted she played _alright_ but she definitely didn't want to play in front of more than two people. She was too shy.

"You play excellently! I did not hear one mistake, my dear," Diana smiled. Rosa wiped her hands on her skirt.

"Just one song?" Rosa asked. James's step father nodded.

"If that is what you wish," He said "I would love to hear more, that was exquisite!" He added.

"We shall leave you to practice, I believe James will be returning home early tonight," Diana smiled and left the room with her husband.

Rosa felt her stomach to little flips when Diana mentioned that James would be coming home early. Although she got to see him when he returned every night, he was always too tired to do much other than eat dinner.

While sitting alone for a few more minutes, Rosa mulled over what song to play. She wanted to play a modern song, but seeing as it was nearly Christmas, _1913_ she thought that if she were to play a song form an artist that probably isn't born yet, it would be stealing.

_The people here will be dead by the time the artist is even born_ Rosa thought. She mentally punched herself for thinking such a nasty thought.

Although, her mind was right, hopefully she would get away with it…

James was eager to get home to spend some time with Rosa. He hadn't spent more than dinner and perhaps half an hour after alone with her each night after he returned to training. The day was about to draw to an end for him as he was dismissing a team of new recruits he had been training for the past week.

Although his step father was having guests around, James planned on sneaking away with Rosa so they could spend some time together. He had some things that he would like to discuss with her that needed to be done in private.

"James!" Someone called to him. James turned around to find Charlie waltzing up to him, his horse in tow.

"Yes, Charlie?" James asked when he was close enough to hear him without having to shout.

"I was wondering… what have you told Miss Miller about the war, does she know we will be fighting in it?" Charlie asked a little concerned.

"No, no I have not yet told her of it," James lied. She already knew how it was going to end.

The two men began to walk together simultaneously.

"How do you plan on telling her? I just… don't know how I will tell Sarah," Charlie sighed. He had found a woman the night they all went dancing and he had begun courting her shortly after James had asked to properly court Rosa.

"I don't know how I will tell her, I guess we will just have to break it to them easily," James shrugged. When James had first told his mother of the war (Before he time travelled) She had been awfully distraught that her son would be so vulnerable to death, she was proud that he would be defending their country; but scared because in her eyes he was still her little boy.

"Are you going to ask Rosa for her hand?" Charlie asked. James didn't know how to answer his question. Would he?

"I, ah, haven't really thought of marriage yet, my friend," James said. In actual fact he had. He had often thought about what it would be like to marry Rosa, having children and growing old together. He loved her, but he also remembered that she was from the future. She didn't belong here just as he didn't belong there. She had family that would miss her just as James had family that would miss him. He thought about discussing it all with her, but he always thought better of it.

"Well, you might want to do it soon if you are going to, I just spoke with the Major and he said the war could begin at any moment. James knew the war wouldn't start for about half a year, but he couldn't tell Charlie that.

"Don't worry, my friend, the war won't start for a long while by my reckoning," James said, trying to ease his friends worries.

"I hope you are right, there are still many things I would like to do before we fight," Charlie chuckled.

James returned home not long after speaking with Charlie. It was mid afternoon and he was pleased to find Rosa hadn't gone out before he returned.

She was sitting alone in her bedroom, lying down on her bed with a book dangling above her face.

James tried to sneak in to surprise her, but unfortunately a creaky floorboard gave him away.

Rosa's eyes flicked across the room to his form and a smile spread across her face.

"You're back!" She said as she flung herself off the bed and embraced him. He loved her warmth; it was so calming and nice.

"Yes, I was allowed to leave early today since there weren't many people in the camp; a lot have taken leave for Christmas," James said.

"Your step dad is having guests over tonight and wants me to play for them after dinner," Rosa blurted out, she looked nervous.

"You play? Piano?" James asked.

"I don't play well, but your mother thinks I do," Rosa sighed. James wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder and sat back on the bed with her.

"I'm sure you will do fine," He smiled and kissed her forehead.

Rosa felt awkward around friends of James's parents, she felt out of place. Neither she nor James contributed to the conversation during dinner. Rosa had been introduced to the guests and that was it, until the time came when all eyes were on her sitting at the piano.

Rosa had decided to play the same song she played for Diana earlier that day. To Rosa's surprised the guests were pleased with it and congratulated her on her talent.

"You were brilliant!" James beamed at Rosa. They were the only two left in the sitting room, the men had retired to the study and the women to the parlour.

"Thank you," Rosa smiled.

"Where did you learn to play?" James asked.

"My mother gave me lessons when I was younger until I was eleven," Rosa said.

"Well, you retained those lessons well," James smiled. Rosa shrugged.

"I have a passion for learning," She said. Rosa decided to change the subject, she didn't want to talk about her family it would only make her miss them more.

"So, how is everyone handling the news of war?" She asked. James shifted uncomfortably on the seat.

"Charlie is worried, he doesn't want to leave his new love behind; as I'm sure many men don't," James said. He took Rosa's hands in his, facing her with an extremely serious expression.

"Rosa, when the time for war comes again; I don't want you anywhere near it. You must promise me that you will stay here and not do anything rash," He said. Rosa sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I can't just let you go and get yourself killed again. No offense or anything, but the Major doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would want to change his battle strategy just because you have 'suspicions'" Rosa said.

"Let me deal with him, we have been friends for many years; he will listen," James said. He knew Rosa was right though, Jamie most likely wouldn't.

"No matter what though, you mustn't attempt to join the army, you will be spotted out immediately," James said. Rosa smirked.

"I'm sure my height would be a dead giveaway," She laughed through her nose.

"Promise me now Rosa," James said.

"Fine, I promise I won't do anything stupid," She said. She didn't intend to keep that promise, no matter what James thought after she had saved his life.

Days slowly passed by, they turned into weeks and eventually months. Everyone was preparing for the upcoming war any way they could. James was called away for much longer periods of time. When the war had officially begun, he would be sent to Devon where he would get a new horse. It was inevitable that he would have to get Joey again, because if he didn't some other soldier would and he couldn't promise that they would take as much care as he would of the horse.

Rosa became bored when James had to stay overnight in the camp, she missed his company. She needed to figure out a way to get into the cavalry and an excuse to get away from James's parents so that she could do just that.

After a few hours of mulling over ideas in her bedroom, she had finally devised a plan.

She knew exactly what she was going to do and if it didn't work she had a back up idea.

Rosa only prayed that everything went according to plan.

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	15. Fare well, for now

_**I would like to say thank you to**_**Why so Sirius1236, for giving me some really good ideas that are in this next chapter :) Enjoy!**

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

Days, weeks and months went by; they only drew the war nearer. Rosa had recited what she was going to do when James left. She had a plan worked out that would hopefully save him from having to fight in the war. It was only a few days away from officially starting.

James had mentioned that a leaving party would be held for the officers the day before they left. Rosa found that rather silly since they would most likely all be drinking; hangovers are hell when you have to get up early to be somewhere.

"James!" Charlie smiled as he waved his friend over. Charlie was sitting beside Major Jamie Stewart and tucked under his left arm was a young brunette woman.

She was fairly pretty. She had big brown eyes and striking red lips. She was very petite.

"Charlie, how are you my friend?" James asked, shaking the hands of both Charlie and Jamie.

"Great!" Charlie grinned "This is Sarah," He said, introducing her to James and Rosa.

"Sarah, this is Captain James Nicholls and his lady friend Rosa Miller," Charlie said, gesturing to the Captain and Rosa as they took seats across from the trio.

"It is lovely to meet you both," Sarah smiled shyly.

The night was long, men were drinking and women were conversing. Rosa just so happened to end up sitting next to Sarah as the night went along. It turned out that Sarah was only one year younger than Rosa.

"So, when did you and Charlie meet?" Rosa asked.

"The night he went dancing with you the Captain and the Major," Sarah said "I saw you, but I never got the chance to meet you all," She giggled.

"Oh, that's a shame; I could have use the company of another woman," Rosa laughed.

"Charlie tells me that you and the Captain are courting; how did you meet?" Sarah asked. _Well, I hit him with my car; turns out he time travelled to the year 2012_ Rosa thought sarcastically.

"We were out riding one day and almost rode into each other on our horses," Rosa said "And form there we got talking and we became friends and it all just progressed from there," She added. Sarah nodded.

"What do you think of the upcoming war?" She asked in a more serious manner. I sighed.

"Well, I just hope that our men will be alright," I said.

"I think we will win!" Sarah grinned "It will be the war to end all wars and our men will be home by Christmas," She smiled triumphantly. _If only that were true…_

Sarah went on to talk about upcoming tea parties that her mother and her friends were throwing and of the gossip that is going around town about some girl called Helen. Rosa played along, pretending to understand and be enthusiastic about things Sarah said, but her mind was elsewhere. She couldn't stop thinking about James, who at this moment was at the bar with Charlie and Jamie; laughing and joking around.

Rosa thought back to her plan, she would need to borrow a few things from the household but hopefully they wouldn't be missed by anyone.

"How are our two lovely ladies?" Charlie asked as he slung an arm around James's neck "Care to dance?" He added. Sarah jumped up at the opportunity of dancing. Rosa also took James's hand.

They danced away the rest of the night. James held Rosa in his arms as the turned to the music, all the while wondering if it was a good idea to come back. But he remembered he needed to make sure Joey gets back to his owner… that is, when he buys him in a couple days.

As the night came to a close, the soldiers were wished good luck and fare welled by the locals as they left.

The next morning came all too soon.

"Well, I regrettably must leave you now; the time for war has come," James sighed. Rosa couldn't believe that he was actually going to go and possibly die again.

"Be careful my son," Diana sobbed as she hugged James goodbye. His step father also said farewell; but they both left James and Rosa to say their goodbye in private.

"Rosa, whatever happens; I want you to know that I love you," James smiled as he wrapped an arm around her torso. Rosa flung both her arms around him.

"Don't get yourself killed alright?" Rosa asked as she broke away from him. She wasn't able to cry, because she knew she would be seeing him again… very soon.

"Rosa, I know this may seem sudden; but I want to ask you something," James said. _Oh god_, Rosa thought. James got down on one knee. _Is he? Oh my god he is!_

He took one of her hand in his; the other held a shiny silver ring with a small white gem.

"It is unfair to ask you right before I go, but I have been thinking about it for a while now," James laughed nervously.

"Will you marry me?" He asked. Rosa stood there, absolutely stunned.

"Y-Yes, yes I will!" She smiled and jumped into his arms. She couldn't believe he had asked, but he had.

"I promise you that I will return; I will return and I will marry you," He smiled and kissed her. Rosa could hear Diana sobbing behind them. Obviously she had eavesdropped on their farewell.

"You better, otherwise I will have to come out there myself and find you," I teased, although I was pretty serious about getting out there.

"There will be no need for that; I must go now," James sighed and pulled her close one more time, planting a loving kiss on her lips and then he left. He was gone.

"Oh, dear Rosa," Diana cried and pulled Rosa into a hug "James will be back, he truly has something to fight for now," She said. Rosa sighed. She felt bad now for what she was about to do, but it had to be done.

"Diana, I know this might seem like a foolish idea; but I want to go back to my home, I need to see if my brother has been back at all," She lied.

"Of course dear! He may have left you letters! I will have my husband drive you there," Diana said, turning to fetch her husband.

"No, please, I would rather go by myself, I just need some time to think in the fresh air," Rosa lied again. Diana seemed to buy it though.

Before Rosa headed out to the stables, she put on her jeans underneath the dress she was wearing and snuck into James's room to borrow a shirt. She tucked away in a small satchel, along with some other items.

When Rosa was in the stables she decided it would be better if she didn't take one of James's horses; he would recognise them anywhere.

So she walked into town.

It was a long, tiring walk, but luckily Rosa found it. James had taken her into town a couple times so she remembered the layout of the place.

People were signing up for the war in the town square. Rosa took note of that and quickly ducked into a pub.

"Excuse me, is there a bathroom here?" She asked the lady at the bar. She nodded and pointed to the far end of the pub. Rosa thanked her and made her way into the restroom.

It was horrible. But what could you expect? There was a toilet, a sink and a tiny little mirror.

Rosa quickly stripped out of her dress and put on James's shirt. She then took a pair of scissors, which she had brought along with her, and took a lock of her long hair.

Rosa had been growing her hair out for a very long time and now she had to cut it. Rosa sighed and told herself that if she didn't cut her hair then she wouldn't be able to get into the cavalry and if she couldn't get into the cavalry, she wouldn't be able to save James and possible other soldiers, from dying.

Rosa snipped off her long golden locks. When she had made them all even, the length of her hair sat just above her shoulders. She couldn't bring herself to cut it any shorter; but she could work with the length to make her look a little manlier. She wet her hand in the sink and slicked her hair back.

Before Rosa left the restroom she pulled out some gauze, which she had found in the bathroom cabinet at James's family house, and wrapped it around her breasts. She pulled the gauze as tight as she could so her chest looked flat underneath James's shirt.

Her face still looked delicate and pretty however…

Rosa looked around the floor and found a small piece of coal lying behind the door. She picked it up, making sure it was actually coal, and smeared it over her face.

She looked into the mirror quickly to make sure she looked manly. She was surprised at the transformation. Hopefully her height wouldn't be too much of an issue…

Rosa sighed and looked at her locks, lying in the sink. She scooped them up and flushed them down the toilet. Hopefully it wouldn't cause any blockage…

Now it was time for her to test her makeover on the army men.

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	16. Into the cavalry it is!

_**Well this chapter update was unexpected, since my computer wasn't working... But last night my amazing grandparents brought me a brand new laptop for doing well in school! I am happy to say that I will be able to update again! :D I will also work on my other stories as well as this one since I have been neglecting them a bit :L**_

_**Enjoy :)**_

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

Rosa made her way to through the thick crowd of bystanders and gradually made her way into the line where men were signing up for the army. She waited patiently as the line made very slow progress. Rosa refrained from talking to anyone for fear that she would not be able to keep her voice form giving her away. She was very nervous. She thought they would see right through her disguise.

As the men in front of her in the line dispersed one by one; Rosa began to feel even more anxious and doubtful. She couldn't have James finding out that she had tried to join up for the cavalry, not yet at least. And if she didn't get in, if she was discovered, then she would heavily regret having to cut most of her hair off.

"Next," A gruff looking man sitting behind the registration desk called out. That was Rosa. She was next.

Rosa timidly stepped up to the desk and kept her arms firmly at her sides. She looked the man over quickly. He had a fluffy orange beard and moustache, his hair hidden under a uniform cap. The corners of his eyes had strong lines, which Rosa presumed indicated that he squinted a lot; perhaps while analysing people. The man was, by Rosa's estimate, in his mid-forties; so he had probably been in the war for a long time. This only made Rosa even more nervous, she could feel sweat forming on her hair line and eyebrows. _Perhaps I won't get away with this_ she thought.

"What's your name lad?" The man asked, judgingly looking over Rosa. Rosa cleared her throat.

"Jeremy Williams," The aging man looked her over again with his squinty eyes.

"You are a short fella aren't ya? How old are you?" He asked, his gaze never moving from Rosa's eyes.

"I am twenty, sir, and unfortunately shortness runs in the family; I can still preform just as well as any other man on a horse though," Rosa said firmly. The gruff man's gaze lingered for a while on Rosa; but finally he looked back down at his papers and wrote down something.

"Take this and get a uniform from over there," He said, handing her the paper "Welcome to the army, son,"

Rosa quickly took the form and made her way to the uniform stand a few metres away.

_I did it_ Rosa thought to herself, _I actually made it into the cavalry!_

It was slightly difficult to make it through yet another crowd of people, but Rosa managed. She had finally got her uniform and now was in need of a horse. Too bad she didn't have any money.

Rosa walked briskly towards where horses were being sold in the main street of the town. That was until she bumped into someone.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't see you there," Rosa said in her best man voice. She looked up at the man; he was quite tall, but not as tall as James. He had dark brown hair and soft blue eyes.

"You're alright lad, where were you heading?" He asked.

"I'm in need of a horse, I've joined up for the cavalry, yet I have no money on me," Rosa sighed.

"Well, we can't have a horse-less rider can we now?" He smirked "Tell you what, I'll buy you a horse and in return you can clean mine for the three weeks we will be at camp for," The man offered. Rosa shrugged;, at least she would get a horse out of this.

"Deal," She agreed and shook the man's hand.

"Now, what's your name lad?" He asked.

"Jeremy Williams, sir," Rosa said. The dark haired man nodded.

"I'm Richard Clark," He replied with a smile. They began simultaneously walking towards the horse stalls.

"So what ranking are you?" Rosa asked awkwardly.

"I'm a sergeant, how about yourself?" Richard asked.

"Private," Rosa shrugged.

"Well, you're in for a treat," Richard chuckled "Major Stewart and Captain Nicholls will be training the new recruits; I was trained by Major Stewart and I'll tell you one thing, do not get on his bad side," He continued to chuckle.

"Why? What happens if you are on his bad side?" Rosa asked, she didn't feel as nervous about the whole situation when she was around this man; and she hardly knew him!

"Well, let's just say life isn't fun," He shrugged.

"Did you get onto his bad side?" Rosa asked, curious. Richard shook his head.

"No, but a buddy of mine did," He smirked "Now, which horse would you like?" He asked. Rosa hadn't realized that they were standing in front of a stable full of horses.

She looked around at each of the horses, before her sights were set on a beautiful caramel coloured stallion. It reminded her of the first horse she ever had when she was a child.

"I like this one," Rosa said as she strode up to the mare. The horse seemed to like her.

"We'll take this one sir!" Richard called out to the man who was selling off the horses.

"Thank you for buying me a horse, I will be forever grateful," Rosa smiled and pulled her horse along beside her.

"You are most welcome, lad," Richard said "We can't have our men heading into a war without a horse can we?" He chuckled "You should go and change into your uniform, we will be leaving soon," He added. Rosa nodded.

"Will you watch him while I get changed then?" She asked, gesturing to her new horse. Richard nodded and took the reins off her.

Rosa hurried into another bar and asked for the restroom. As she stood in front of the mirror, she played with her now shoulder length hair. She was able to mess it up so she looked more like a boy who worked on the streets in the town. Thankfully no one had questioned her sex out loud; she wasn't sure how she would react to that.

Rosa stripped out of her jeans and James's shirt and pulled on her new uniform. It was slightly too big, the sleeves on the coat extended over her hands so she needed to keep pushing them up. The pants were also slightly long, but she was able to roll them up a little and tuck the ends into her boots. She finally tucked her hair into the cap and gave herself a look over. She looked like a soldier now. Her face was still covered in coal, but she decided to keep it there in case that was the only thing that made her look more like a man.

"About time you came back!" Richard laughed as he handed the reins of Rosa's horse to her.

"We are leaving in five minutes," He said. Rosa nodded and followed him to where they were supposed to stand.

From where she was standing, she could see James getting into a car. She kept her gaze strictly on the back of his head… until he turned around.

"Leave him be Perkins!" He called out, looking right past Rosa. She turned her gaze as her feet carried her across a small bridge.

There was a boy walking a long side a soldier and a horse. The horse looked so familiar to Rosa.

_That's Joey! _She thought.

The boy talking to the horse must have been the horse's owner then, the one James had spoken of. The boy, Albert was his name, looked devastated to see his horse heading off to war. It almost broke Rosa's heart to see him being ripped away from the creature he had trained and raised.

Rosa returned her vision to James; he hadn't turned around and was now looking directly at Rosa. She almost panicked; she pulled her gaze away from James and began to speak to Richard; who had thankfully been walking alongside her.

"How long will we be walking for?" She asked.

"A couple hours, the camp isn't too far out of town luckily," Richard replied to her with a small smile. Rosa nodded in reply and stole a quick glance at James. He had turned around and was now facing the front.

Rosa looked beyond him and to the long uphill path ahead of them.

_This is going to be fun_ She thought sarcastically.

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	17. Ugh, training

_**Here's the next chapter :) I want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far, I love you people! I got a highly unexpected 41 reviews ;o when I woke up this morning. This story will be getting into a little more action in the next few chapters, but unfortunately for the updating side of things... I'm not too sure how often I will be able to update because school is starting up again and I will have to do extra study thanks to having to do correspondence courses because my teachers put all the crap subjects into one line that we have to chose from :L **_

_**Sorry, I have been venting about this to almost everyone I know xD ON WITH THE STORY!**_

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

The walk seemed to drag on for hours on end! They didn't take a single break the entire time. Rosa was tired and she was sure her feet had huge blisters on them thanks to the new uniform boots…

When they finally made it to the camp, Rosa lost track of James. He was driven away, Rosa presumed, to his own barracks.

The camp grounds were fairly big, there were rows of cabins spread along the far side of the open field and just behind them were the stables.

"Let's go claim out beds before the others; trust me, you don't want a bed by the door or by the toilet," Richard chuckled and led the way to the barracks.

Every soldier was provided a bed with an uncomfortable chunky pillow and a sleeping bag. There were at least sixteen beds in the barrack that Rosa and Richard were staying in; each a set of bunks.

"I have the top bunk," Richard said, jogging over to a bunk located in the middle of the room. Rosa quickly claimed the one underneath just as other men began to pile into the room.

She was thankful that she would at least be sleeping underneath someone with fairly good hygiene. Richard didn't seem like the type of man who would like to be soaked in sweat and mud.

The dining hall was huge. It was the biggest single room that Rosa had seen in a very long time. The area that the tables covered would be the equivalent size to that of her high school gym and then there was a kitchen.

Rosa lined up behind all the other soldiers in the food line. Dinner was being served and after the long exhausting walk to the camp; Rosa was thankful to finally get some food in her belly.

"You know the caps don't have to be worn at dinner," Richard chuckled as they walked to a table that was fairly empty. There were two other men currently sitting at it. One had short blonde hair, neatly cut to fit the shape of his head; he looked really muscly through his uniform. He looked at Rosa and she immediately got the feeling that he was someone she should avoid.

The other man was more the size of James. He was tall but much thinner than James and he had a very dark head of slick hair.

Rosa sat opposite to Richard and on the same side as the thin, tall man.

"Jeremy?" Richard asked; an apple in his hand.

"Yes?" Rosa asked, looking up from her food tray.

"Why do you keep your cap on, embarrassing hair?" Richard smirked and took a bite of the apple. Rosa scooped up some of the slop that was placed on her plate. It didn't  
look particularly tasty, but she was hungry and there had been no fruit left.

"You could say that," She replied simply. She didn't want to take her cap off in case James recognized her. Just because her hair was shorter didn't mean he wouldn't recognize her other traits. Rosa was surprised she had managed to even get in to the army, let alone make it this far without her gender being questioned.

Richard shrugged and looked around. Rosa was thankful he dropped the topic.

He suddenly sat up straight and pointed a finger to someone behind Rosa.

"That's Major Stewart and Captain Nicholls over there!" He said. Rosa felt a jolt of fear run through her. She could feel sweat forming on her forehead.

"They will be training you newbies tomorrow, or so I heard," Richard said, taking another bite of his apple. Rosa speared a quick glance over her shoulder. James was facing Jamie; they seemed to be having a rather intense conversation. Rosa let her eyes remain on James for a few moments longer before he began to walk away with Jamie; thankfully not in Rosa's direction.

Rosa didn't sleep well that night. Her pillow was too lumpy and her bed mattress was equally as lumpy; but that wasn't the worst of it, the men she had to share barracks with were terribly loud snorers. The whole room sounded like it was being ripped apart by chainsaws.

The morning came far too soon for Rosa's liking. They were all woken up at five a.m. to begin their training.

Richard didn't accompany her to training because he wasn't new to the cavalry. She didn't know anyone else there, aside from a few men from her barracks; but they weren't all too interested in making conversation with her.

Rosa's new horse greeted her with a whinny as she entered the stables. His soft caramel coat shone magnificently in the early morning light.

"Alright, boy; let's go and do some training," Rosa sighed as she saddled him up.

The new soldiers were ordered into the farthest field for training. Practice charges were going to be held first to see how the new men could handle their horses and then there would be other drills and exercises carried out on the ground.

As Rosa stood her horse in line with the rest of the men who were just coming in; she noticed Major Stewart make his way to the front of the group, followed by Captain Nicholls.

Rosa felt like rolling her eyes. Of all the Captain's and Major's in the cavalry, it had to be Captain Nicholls and Major Stewart who would be training the group she was in.

"Attention!" Major Stewart boomed. Rosa was pulled from her thoughts and was forced to focus on the Major.

"We will be doing a practice charge first off and then proceed to do regular training like all the other soldiers in this war," He said "Today You will be taught how to act should you fall from your horse, you shall be taught what to do should you have to face the enemy on foot and you shall also be taught what to do should you be taken captive by the enemy," He said. There was no sugar coating in anything he said. He was addressing all the possible things that could happen on the battle field and he was not going to try and hide anything from the men; war isn't nice and he would make sure all the men knew that. This was only the beginning of many weeks of training.

Rosa tried to hide herself in the midst of the crowd of soldiers and their horses, hopefully hiding any view James might have of her. The men around her were all murmuring to one another, it would have been impossible to hear anyone's voice distinctly; unless of course that voice belonged to Major Stewart.

"Charge!" He bellowed. Within seconds everyone was charging down the field. Now all Rosa could hear was the roar of hundreds of hooves, thundering across the plain.

Rosa could feel her horse wanting to gallop faster than she was allowing him, but Rosa didn't want to risk being noticed by James. Not yet, it would ruin her plans.

After the charge the men were sent to an area closer to the barracks where the Major ordered a series of exercises.

Rosa's muscles were dead.

She had never been forced to do so many pushups, crunches and plank holds in her life! Her arms and stomach were dying after an intense hour and a half of exercises.

"Alright, lads!" The Major boomed. All the men stood up straight and held their arms firmly to their sides.

"Now you will all complete thirty laps of the field to your left; I don't want to see any of you walking or stop for breaks," He said "If you do there will be punishment! This is the army, now go!" He ordered. Everyone took off for the field. Rosa slowly jogged, which meant that she fell behind all the men; but she was always told that she needed to keep a steady pace while running to preserve energy, rather than using it all up sprinting.

By her tenth lap, Rosa's legs were almost giving out from exhaustion. In the future she had occasionally gone to the gym and ran on the treadmill for a few minutes, but never around a field for what seemed like hours.

"Come on lad, keep up!" A familiar voice said from beside her. Rosa looked to her side and saw beautiful blue eyes staring back at her. James.

That was it, Rosa's legs completely went and she found herself falling to the not so soft grass beneath her.

Rosa slowly drew her hands up and underneath her chest; her arms protesting at the movement. She rose to her hands and knees, when she felt a warm hand wrap around her left bicep.

"Easy lad, I didn't mean to frighten you," She could hear James chuckle.

"It's fine sir," Rosa grunted. She avoided looking at James and instead focused her gaze on the line of men far ahead of her.

"I better catch up with the rest, don't want to get punished," Rosa said and quickly took off before James could say anything else.

She regretted making the decision to run again, but she needed to get away from James, as much as she would have preferred to have his comforting hands on her. She also didn't want to get punishment from Major Stewart; her body couldn't take any extra work on top of the intense training.

After completing her final lap of the field, Rosa was about to pass out. She slowly trudged back to the barracks, barely able to carry herself at all, and crawled into her bed; still dressed in her uniform. She didn't care, she just needed to rest.

She hoped James hadn't recognized her; otherwise everything she was doing would be a complete waste. She would have joined the army and done exercise until she passed out if it wasn't worth it.

But James was worth it.

He was her fiancé.

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	18. More time

_**Short chapter :L Sorry, but I at least got something up :) More will happen in the next chapter, I promise! The charge is coming...**_

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

As the week came to an end, Rosa was sleeping every possible minute she could. Training had taken everything out of her. She was eating a lot more than she would normally eat and she could feel her muscles getting stronger.

Rosa was thankful that she finally had a good reason to get fit; perhaps they should have army training in the gyms in 2012.

Major Stewart had led them through many different training procedures and showed them many different techniques to keep the horses in order while on the battle field.

But it wasn't all just hard exercise, they were taught how to wield a sword and shoot a gun; also what to do if taken captive by the Germans.

Rosa kept her end of the bargain and cleaned Richard's horse. He had brought her a horse, so it was only fair.

It was fairly relaxing though; Richard's horse was well trained and didn't put up a fuss when she brushed him. Rosa needed a bit of relaxation; all the talk of war and the preparation was very tiring.

Just as Rosa was finishing up with her own horse, the large doors to the stables opened. Rosa peaked over her horse's back to see who had entered.

"Hey there, Richard," Rosa smiled as she quickly put on her cap and stepping to the front of her horse's stall.

Richard had stopped a few stalls down from Rosa, admiring his horse.

"You've done a pretty good job with him; perhaps better than I myself could have done," He chuckled and made his way over to Rosa.

Rosa immediately stiffened and the familiar feeling of anxiousness began to well up in her stomach.

"So how has the training been for you? I hear the Major was pretty rough on you guys," Richard said, reaching over to pet Rosa's horse.

"I'll have to admit, I wasn't expecting it," Rosa sighed. Her muscles still ached from the week's training.

"I don't think anyone expects it; I know when I first joined up it was pretty intense," Richard laughed. Rosa decided to join in; she was trying to relax after all.

Whenever Rosa wasn't training or cleaning Richard's horse; she was either in the barracks getting as much sleep as she could, or out in the small woodland area behind the farthest field; away from all the men.

Trying to act like a boy constantly was frustrating. If Rosa wasn't so focused on saving James's life, she would have gone crazy from all the filth and smells the men in her barracks create. Every morning she would arise to wet floors and toilets that reeked of urine. Every afternoon she would enter the barracks and become swallowed up in the stench of sweat and mud and at night; ugh, incessant snoring and relentless gas ebbing form the asses of her comrades.

At least in the fields it was fresh and clean.

Rosa lay in the soft grass, thinking over her plans of saving James; until she was interrupted by a loud trumpet.

She got up and ran as fast as her tired legs would carry her, to the meeting area just outside of the barracks.

Men were scrambling around and forming into lines in front of Major Stewart and Captain Nicholls.

Thankfully there was a spot next to Richard where Rosa could stand.

"What's happening?" She whispered to him.

"I'm not sure, the Major is just about to tell us," Richard whispered back.

"Attention soldier!" The major yelled "Our time for battle has finally come. The Germans are advancing further into French territory and we must go and defend what's left of France!" He yelled.

"If the Germans conquer France, what happens to us?" The Major asked, pausing for just a moment.

"They attack our beloved home! Britain! And we will not let that happen," He said, his face seemed to flush red from anger.

"We move out at six a.m. be ready men," He finished, turning to walk back to his office with James.

"We're leaving already?" Rosa asked; concern obvious in her voice.

"Don't worry, we won't fight for at least another week or so; we still need to take a ship across to France and then I presume we will do a few more practice charges," Richard said.

"You seem awfully calm about all this," Rosa stated. Richard chuckled.

"Oh believe me, I am not one bit calm on the inside," He said.

Rosa couldn't believe how fast everything went that week.

Everyone had woken up at six in the morning, making a two hour ride to the docks and finally was sailing out to France.

The boat ride itself was rather quick.

Rosa began to panic when they all made their way off the boat. She didn't have enough time to think things through; she wasn't sure if her plan would work or if her back up plan would be any good.

She also hadn't thought about what would happen were she shot herself.

Rosa wasn't ready to enter a war; she wasn't ready to kill strangers while trying to save the man she loved.

She needed more time to prepare herself for the onslaught, she needed more time to think her rescue plan through, she also needed more time to set up a backup plan should her first plan not work.

Rosa just needed more time.

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_**Review! :)**_


	19. I will keep your secret

_**I am sooooooooooooo sorry for the long wait. The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic :L I had subject clashes to deal with at school and not much time after school because I have to do a correspondence course for one of my subjects because my school doesn't offer it for my year group this year which sucks :L So I have to teach myself a whole subject which is a pain. And then on Monday I had to go on a school camp to look after my school's youngest year group and that was exhausting! I got home on Friday and was sick, I still am sick; but it has thankfully given me a little bit of time to relax and get a chapter up for you :) I am excited to write the next chapter, which I will try and get up as soon as I can! **_

_**Thank you so much for all your reviews/favourites/follows I enjoy coming on here and finding out that someone has reviewed or I have gained another follower c: I hope the wait hasn't put you off the story! **_

_**Speaking of the story, let's get on with it!**_

_**Here you go :)**_

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CHAPTER NINETEEN:

Men scrambled to and from the temporary tents; trying to gather their uniforms and weapons.

Major Stewart announced that there would be no more practice charges, as Richard had thought there might be. The next charge would not be a drill, it would be real.

At the moment the men were awaiting orders from the major. Major Stewart and Captain Nicholls had been discussing things with the reconnaissance troops who had been sent out to survey the enemy.

Only a matter of moments remained until the cavalry's fate was decided.

Rosa sat quietly against a tree. There was nothing to be done, she had already prepared her uniform and weapons, and she only now had to await orders from her superiors.

"Jeremy!" A familiar voice called out. Rosa didn't move an inch; she was too caught up in her own mind to realize the voice was calling out to her.

"Jeremy," The voice repeated. Rosa slowly looked up to find Richard standing in front of her.

"Are you alright, lad?" He asked. Rosa shook her head.

"I don't know," She murmured "Has there been any word from the Major?" She asked. Richard sighed and nodded.

"We are to attack at dawn," He said. Rosa could tell he wasn't all too thrilled to be charging on the enemy. Rosa knew it was wrong, but she also knew she wouldn't be able to sway the Major, especially if James couldn't; surely he had tried.

"Well, let us pray that all goes well," Rosa sighed. She stood up and began to walk back towards the camp.

Rosa felt a warm hand wrap around her forearm.

"You aren't who you say you are, are you?" Richard asked. Rosa froze.

Richard came to stand in front of her. He lifted her chin so that he could see into her eyes.

"You are not a man, are you?" He asked. Rosa sighed and shook her head.

"Please, you must not tell anyone," Rosa said desperately.

"And why not?" Richard asked. Rosa could see confusion in his eyes, also underlying hurt. She couldn't look at him directly, so she lowered her eyes to study the grass.

"Why should I not inform the Major that there is a woman in our midst that almost rode off to a war we are certain to never return from," Richard pushed.

"Why are you here?" He almost whispered.

"Can we sit? I will tell you everything if you give me a few moments to explain myself," She sighed. Richard nodded sternly and took a seat beside her on the grass.

Rosa twirled a piece of grass around in her fingers for a moment or two before she began to speak.

"I joined the cavalry to save a life," She said.

"And whose life might that be?" Richard asked, his gaze never leaving Rosa.

"Captain Nicholls," Rosa said.

"You are in love with him?" Richard asked. Rosa nodded.

"We are engaged to be married," She said. Richard let out a long breath before asking his next question.

"Why don't you confront him?" He asked, he began to sound a little sympathetic.

"Because he would send me straight home," Rosa said "I'm not going to let him die, not when I know how to save him," She added.

"And how are you going to save him?" Richard asked.

"I'm afraid that is something I cannot tell you," Rosa sighed. She spared a glance in his direction. Richard looked confused, upset, annoyed but Rosa had a feeling he understood her.

"May I ask your name?" He asked. Rosa smiled slightly.

"Rosa Miller," Rosa said.

"Well Rosa, I will keep your secret; your life is yours to do whatever you must, I will not interfere no matter how wrong it is to have a woman at war," Richard sighed.

"Thank you," Rosa said, she didn't know how else to respond.

"However, I will make it my purpose to protect you out on the battlefield tomorrow; I would never forgive myself if you were hurt," Richard said, all seriousness shown through his eyes.

"Just don't get yourself killed for me, otherwise I will not forgive myself," Rosa said. Richard smirked and nodded.

He stood up and held out a hand to Rosa.

"We should get back to the campsite," He said. Rosa nodded and took his hand.

"Please, don't treat me like a lady; just pretend I am Jeremy, the boy who you offered to buy a horse," Rosa smiled. Richard nodded.

"As you wish, Private," He said sarcastically. Before they began to walk back, Rosa had a question for Richard.

"How did you figure out I was a woman?" She asked.

"Your voice, it sounded feminine when I first spoke with you; also your face looks quite feminine when you analyse it properly," He smirked.

The rest of the day carried on fairly normally. Rosa was cautious around the rest of the men. She didn't want anyone else finding out her secret. She was thankful that Richard hadn't run off to tell the Major at the first chance he got.

Rosa told herself that she would sleep early tonight to be completely focused at dawn.

"Private?" A voice called. Rosa was almost to her tent when someone called out to her. She turned on the spot only to have her heart melt.

It was James.

He looked so good in his uniform. Rosa felt sad to know that if her plan didn't work then she would most likely never see him again.

"Captain Nicholls," Rosa said in her manliest voice.

"Private Williams," James smiled politely. If he only knew how his smiles affected Rosa.

"How can I help you Captain?" Rosa asked quickly. She felt nervous as well as happy in his presence.

"I was actually wondering if you would be interested in a spot next to me on the front line with myself and Major Stewart, along with a few other brave soldiers, at dawn," He asked. Rosa was taken aback.

Did he really want her next to him when they charged at the Germans? It would make Rosa's plan a whole lot easier to carry out.

"I-I would be honored sir!" Rosa grinned. James beamed.

"Excellent!" He said.

"May I ask why you are asking to have me beside you? As I am only a private in the cavalry and of not much importance," Rosa said, risking being in his presence for a little longer.

"I observed your training back in Britain and I noticed that you didn't give up, no matter how far you were pushed to your limits. Other men would give up, but you didn't and I admire that in a soldier," He said honestly. Rosa inwardly smirked, _if only he knew he was talking to his fiancé_, she thought.

"Thank you sir, it is an honor to hear such compliments," Rosa said. James nodded and then bid her a goodnight. He was still oblivious to who she was.

Rosa was able to sleep easy that night. Her secret had been kept and James still didn't know she was in his cavalry unit. Richard treated her as if he never found out she was a woman. It was a good day.

Then dawn came.

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**_Review! :)_**


	20. Her eyes

_**Well, this was an interesting chapter to write c: And it was up much sooner than the last! I had motive for this chapter, all your lovely reviews make me want to write! :)  
I know, I keep saying that the charge scene will be soon but this time I seriously mean it. They are almost about to charge and stuff!**_

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CHAPTER TWENTY:

Rosa stood beside her horse; a cold tremor passed down her spine. She was dreading the day and it had only just begun.

Here she was, in 1914, ready to ride into battle with a group of the British cavalry; not to mention she is dressed up as a man and will be riding alongside her fiancé who had already fought and died in this exact same battle.

Crazy

"Hey Jeremy!" Richard called out. He knew her secret, but he was kind enough not to tell anyone. Rosa would always respect that.

"Hi Richard," Rosa smiled as she saddled up her horse. She hoped it remained unharmed during the battle.

"So I hear that the Captain has asked you to ride by his side when we charge," Richard stated. Word gets around quickly, Rosa thought.

"Ah yeah, he did ask," Rosa smiled sheepishly. Richard leaned in a little closer to Rosa and whispered;

"Does he know?" Rosa shook her head.

"No, he doesn't," She said, _but he will soon_ she thought.

Richard nodded and took a step back.

"Well, Jeremy, I will see you on the other side," He smiled before beginning to walk back to his horse.

_The other side?_ Rosa thought; _I hope he means the other side of the field_

Before Richard was too far away, Rosa called out to him.

"Don't go anywhere Richard; I still owe you for buying me the horse!"

"Be brave!"

That's all Rosa can hear

Major Stewart had given a speech to encourage all the men before the battle. He told them all to be brave and fight for their country.

Rosa would be fighting for her love.

Rosa had never loved any one as quickly as she had come to love James. Love is a weird thing, sometimes it takes years and years to love a person, and sometimes it takes days.

Rosa was in between. It took her only a matter of months to love James. She was just happy that he loved her back.

Suddenly everyone's horses jerked forward. Rosa was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't realized they were all moving out.

This was it.

Rosa silently urged her horse forward.

It took half an hour to get to the battle site. Everyone was told to dismount their horses about a kilometer from the long grass where they would hide themselves. They would be hiding in the long grass to surprise the Germans. They would never know what hit them.

Rosa felt sad to know that she was going to have to witness the slaughtering of humans who she had no hatred for. To her it was all still in the past; yet she was right there.

"Jeremy!" Someone called out in a hushed voice. Rosa looked around to find James walking up beside her, his stallion Joey in tow.

"Good morning Captain," Rosa said, not forgetting her manly voice.

"I sure hope it will be a good morning lad," James sighed. Rosa could see the fear written all over his face. He had already been through this; he didn't want to go through it again. But he had no choice; even if he asked to leave the army they wouldn't have let him, especially due to the war.

Then Rosa remembered her plan. It wasn't the world's most amazing rescue plan, but she hoped that it worked. She needed it to work.

"Have you written to your family, Jeremy?" James asked, keeping his eyes locked on the horizon.

"No, I haven't a family to write to," Rosa said. It was partly true "Have you, sir?" Rosa asked.

James sighed "I have, I have written many times leading up to this day; but I have received only replies from my mother and father," He said. Rosa felt terrible all of a sudden. He must have written to her, but she hadn't been there to answer them.

"Who were you most expecting a reply from?" Rosa asked.

"My fiancé," James said, briefly looking to 'the young lad' walking beside him.

"Perhaps the ink ran out," Rosa suggested.

"My parents said she had gone back to her home to visit her brother, but I know she has no home and no brother here," James sighed. Rosa frowned slightly.

"Do you think her to be seeing another man, sir?" Rosa asked.

"Goodness no! She would never do anything of the sort; she is far too kind and caring," James smiled. Rosa's face also lit up with a smile.

"Perhaps she is off doing kind, caring deeds now," Rosa smirked. James frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Rosa shrugged.

"She might just save your life," She said. Their conversation was ended abruptly with the Major leading everyone into the long grass.

The battle was about to begin.

Rosa was shaking. She had a feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong. She shouldn't even be here; it could completely mess with the course of the future; especially if word got out that she was a woman.

Everyone formed into rows. No one had yet climbed onto their horse.

Rosa stood beside the horse Richard had brought for her. Her hands felt clammy and her head hot. She didn't feel ready. She began to think her plan wouldn't work. She had formed the plan mainly on what James had described to her.

Major Stewart had given an order. Rosa heard it and did as she was told, but her mind was elsewhere.

She could see James sitting on top of his horse and she could see Richard beside her on top of his.

Rosa looked around at all the men.

_How many of these men won't be coming home to see their families?_ Rosa thought. Their Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, sons, daughters… everyone would have someone die in the war. It was horrible to think about, yet it was the only thing Rosa could understand at the present moment.

The men had all drawn their swords. Rosa drew hers.

She looked over at Richard. He looked back and returned a smile. His smile was genuine, but it was filled with sadness.

"Don't worry, I will be right behind you," Richard said reassuringly "I will see you on the other side, my friend," He said and tipped his head to Rosa. Rosa smiled and nodded in return.

She now turned her head to look at James.

He looked uneasy. Rosa could understand why. There were so many reasons for his current state. His posture and facial expression showed confidence and determination; but his eyes betrayed him. They showed all the fear and sadness that he was feeling within. Rosa's heart hurt to see him return to the site in which he died.

"Are you alright lad?" James asked; he had caught her staring. Rosa smiled slightly and nodded.

"Be careful Captain, stay close to your horse and I will see you on the other side of the battle field," She said, just before the Major gave the order to point swords.

Rosa stretched her arm outwards, slightly stirring her horse.

"Don't forget that you have a fiancé to return to; she would be deeply hurt if you did not return," Rosa added.

"_Charge!"_

James P.O.V

I looked to Jeremy; my friend. We hardly knew each other but I already felt like he was my brother. He reminded me a lot of someone, I couldn't quite say who though.

I heard Major Stewart give out the order to get onto our horses. I did so, all the while watching my friends around me. The men I had come to know in what seems like such a short period of time.

I watched their faces. I could see their pain and fear; I tried my best to hide mine emotions. I didn't want the men to look to me and see that I had zero confidence on the outcome of the battle.

I knew it wasn't going to end well.

Yet I refuse to back down.

It seems silly going back to a battle that I died in. Why go back if I am only going to die again? Because I need to fulfill my promise to the boy, Albert, I will return his horse. I had a plan. I will try my best to survive this battle. Then I will ride away, back to England, back to return Joey and to return myself to Rosa.

I missed her so much. My heart ached at the thought of not seeing her beautiful face again.

Jeremy was watching me. I regained my composure and looked him in the eyes. They seemed so familiar. They were a soft light blue colour, but they were filled with so much fear and what almost looked like pain.

"Are you alright lad?" I asked. What Jeremy said next confused me entirely.

"Be careful Captain, stay close to your horse and I will see you on the other side of the battle field," He said. He raised his arm, pointing his sword in front of him. Only now did I notice how small he was for a man.

"Don't forget that you have a fiancé to return to; she would be deeply hurt if you did not return," He said.

I looked at him, trying to figure out why he was saying such strange things. Normally someone would say something like 'I'll see you on the other side' or 'it has been nice knowing you'.

That's when I saw it.

A single golden lock curled out from underneath the soldiers cap.

I looked closer at the Private's face. There was no trace of stubble or facial hair and his features were extremely soft and delicate looking. He didn't have broad shoulders as most men do. He was incredibly small for a man; his eye lashes were too long.

That's when Jeremy looked at me directly once more.

His eyes

_Her_ eyes.

"_Charge!"_

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	21. Promise me this

_**Alright, here is the charge scene :) I haven't really gone along with the actual movie scene much for this chapter because I wanted to get down what Rosa was experiencing and most of the scene in the movie is more about what James is experiencing (And I haven't seen the film I in a while -.-) I hope you enjoy this chapter, I had fun writing it c:**_

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CHAPTER TWENTY ONE:

_My horse galloped like there was no tomorrow; which was kind of funny because I couldn't guarantee that I would even see tomorrow!_

_I didn't swing my sword at any of the Germans, I just couldn't. What if they weren't supposed to die? What if it messed up the future?_

_The future_

_ I belonged there, but I couldn't really call it home anymore; the only place I felt at home was with James… that just so happened to be in the middle of a war._

Rosa's mind couldn't help but wonder; which was the last thing it needed to do given her current situation.

She pulled her horse to the left, avoiding a German soldier who was preparing to catch her horse. Rosa looked around quickly, trying to spot James.

_Where is he?_ She thought.

As she was looking around, she didn't notice the German soldier aiming a gun in her direction; until she heard the gun fire.

A searing pain ripped through Rosa's left bicep. She let out a shriek and almost fell of her horse.

She couldn't make any sense of what was happening around her. She needed to find James; this was all going very bad.

How was she supposed to save him if she couldn't even keep track of the man?

Rosa got a grip of her horse, trying to forget about the pain in her arm, she began to gallop towards the tree line where she knew everyone from her regiment would be heading.

Everywhere Rosa looked, she could see death. Men and horses alike were being cut down in droves. German and British were dying.

Rosa hadn't dared take anyone's life yet; she couldn't bring herself to do it and she was too focused on finding James.

_There!_ Rosa almost said out loud. She had spotted James just a head of her; she recognized Joey and the slender form of her fiancé sitting upon the stallion.

Rosa quickly urged her horse to move faster, she needed to get to James before the machine guns began firing.

"Captain!" Rosa called out. James had just finished cutting down a man when he slowed his horse to look around. He had seen her.

"James! Watch out!" Rosa called; her voice rang with fear as she watched a man approach James with a gun in hand.

James made quick work of the situation and cut the man down; blocking the scene from Rosa by moving Joey in front of the man slightly.

As Rosa came closer to James she could see hurt in his eyes.

"What in heaven's name are you doing here?" James asked as he pulled Joey around to face her.

"I-I don't know," Rosa sighed. She knew exactly what she was doing. Rosa knew he would be angry or upset, but it wouldn't last… would it? He would forgive her if they got through the war… right?

James could hardly keep his voice under control

"You shouldn't be here," He said, looking around quickly to see if they were being aimed at.

"Yeah, well I'm here now and you can't do much about that," Rosa sighed. James gave her a look that said all too well that he was displeased.

"I wasn't going to let you get yourself killed! I came here to try and save you," Rosa cried. Although the war went on around them Rosa couldn't hear or see anything other than James. His face reeked with emotion as Rosa was sure hers also did.

"And in the process of saving me, did you think about yourself?" He asked; his voice became slightly pitchy.

"I will go anywhere you go James, you should know that by now!" Rosa said, trying to keep her voice from breaking. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes; but she wasn't going to let them fall.

"No matter the consequences I wasn't going to let you get yourself killed, again!" She cried out "Do you know what that would do to me? If you are to die in this battle I would rather be out here to die alongside you, than safely at home where all I can do is mourn you," She said.

Rosa's mind suddenly focused on the world surrounding the two of them. They were in the midst of battle and they were just standing there, completely still!

"We can discuss this later, I think we should get back to fighting," Rosa said, pulling her horse to face the tree line. She could see a lot of men on foot retreating into the thick cover.

"You are not going to be fighting, Rosa! Ride the other way, back to the camp," James said and pulled Joey to face the tree line.

Rosa frowned and moved Joey forward slightly.

"No," She said defiantly. James looked at her, bewildered.

"Please, Rosa, do as I say; I do not want to see you dead!" He said pleadingly

"Then you will have to drag me out of here yourself; I'm not leaving you," Rosa said and began to ride ahead of him. She drew her sword this time. Nobody was going to get her off her horse.

She could see James ride up beside her form the corner of her eye. He turned his head to look at her every so often and then he would cut down anyone who dared aim a gun in their direction.

"We need to get past that tree line! Before the guns fire," James called out to Rosa. She nodded and sped her horse up.

"Jeremy!" Rosa heard her fake name being called. She looked to her left to see Richard riding along a few meters away from her. He looked worried.

"Look out!" He yelled all of a sudden. Rosa turned her head back to look towards the tree line but instead of seeing trees she saw a huge tent directly in her path. She pulled back on her horse's reins, causing the beast to stand on its hind legs; throwing Rosa off its back.

Rosa let out a shriek as the air was forced out of her lungs. She felt dizzy and disorientated; the wound in her arm made its presence known and began to throb and sting like mad.

She could feel something wrap around her torso, trying to pull her up off the ground.

"Rosa, you need to stand up! Can you hear me?" A familiar male voice said in her ear. She could only just make out what he had said. She looked up to see the face of the man, she expected it to be James; but it wasn't.

It was Richard

"Richard?" She wheezed, the air slowly began to return to her. She got a hold of her legs and tried to stand on them.

"Quickly Rosa! Or we'll be shot!" Richard said. Rosa nodded and pushed on her legs.

She was now standing upright, until Richard pulled her into a fast run.

"Where's your sword?" He asked as they hid in front of a tent. Rosa shrugged, but quickly realized that he didn't see her silent answer.

"I lost it when I fell," She said. Richard sighed and dug his hands into the pocket of his uniform.

"War is no place for you! Here, take this and be sure to use it if someone gets too close," He said and shoved a small dagger into her hands.

"I can't use this!" Rosa protested. Richard gave her a stern look.

"It is life or death here, Rosa, if someone tries to kill you, you don't hesitate to defend yourself," He said and pulled his sword from its holster. He peeked around the tent quickly to see if the coast was clear.

"Alright, we need to make it to that tree line; it looks like a few of our men have passed it already so we need to get there and help them take it," Richard said, he looked jittery and anxious.

"Follow me!" He said and swiftly moved around the small tent. Rosa did as he said and followed.

Her plan was failing, she had lost sight of James yet again and now she didn't have a horse. How on Earth was she going to save the love of her life when she couldn't keep track of him?

Richard moved fast, it was a good thing Rosa hadn't given on the training. She began to notice the pain in her body more and more though.

They zigzagged in between German tents; thankfully most of them were empty due to them retreating behind the tree lines.

They were almost three quarters of the way to the tree line, but then Rosa heard something she never thought she would hear.

Machine guns

"Rosa!" Richard called out. He threw himself at her, tackling her to the ground.

Once again Rosa experienced the air being taken out of her lungs. Surely it wasn't good for her health.

All Rosa could hear was the sound of bullets whizzing through the air. She could do was look up at the sky, it was very dull and grey. There would probably be a down pour later.

Richard was still lying on her; his body was heavier than she expected it would be. James was a lot lighter.

James

Rosa began to panic. He had said that he died during when the machine guns were fired! The machine guns were firing now!

Rosa began to cry. She couldn't help it; the thought of James being dead broke her heart.

She sobbed for what seemed like hours. She couldn't move, she couldn't do anything other than cry and cry.

All of a sudden the machine guns stopped firing.

After a few minutes of silence, Rosa could hear her name being called.

"Rosa," The voice sounded really close.

It was Richard. He had begun to shift himself off her.

"Don't sit up," He rasped. Rosa slightly turned her head to look at him.

"Are you alright Richard?" She asked. He looked a very sickly pale colour; his eyes were dull and almost colourless.

"I think I was hit," He said, pausing slightly to catch his breath.

"Where?" Rosa asked, her voice barely a whisper. Richard blinked slowly a couple times, pausing again before he spoke.

"In the stomach," He said slowly. Rosa's eyes refilled with tears, but she kept her voice strong and confident so to not worry him.

"You will be fine, it probably just grazed your skin," She tried for a smile but didn't quite manage to get one across her face.

Rosa quickly realized something

"You saved my life, Richard," She said, her eyes went wide. Richard smiled.

"That I did, milady," He said quietly. Rosa smiled sadly at him.

"I will be forever grateful, Richard," She said "Thank you so much for everything you have done for me, for buying me a horse, for supporting me, for keeping my secret, for being my friend and for saving my life," she added.

"You are most welcome, Rosa," He smiled "You are a good person," He rasped "And when this is over, you will be reunited with the Captain, you will go and marry the man and you will be happy, but you have to promise this," He said, his voice sounding a little more serious.

"What?" Rosa asked.

"Don't you dare go getting yourself into any more wars, or else I will come back to haunt you," Richard tried to laugh but it came out as more of a groan. Rosa grasped Richard's hand in her own.

"I solemnly swear that I will never get myself into another war, ever," She smiled with tears rolling down her eyes. Richard tried to nod.

"Thank you," He smiled and closed his eyes. Rosa squeezed his hand.

"Richard?" She asked "Don't go anywhere, we will be found soon, surely we have won," Rosa said, turning her head slowly to look around the battle field.

It was littered with the bodies of men and horses. Some were moving, other's lay very, very still. She could see some men walking around, but she couldn't tell if they were German or British, so she remained silent and only spoke quietly to Richard.

"They are looking for survivors I think; even if they are German I'm sure they wouldn't deny you medical attention.

"I think I would rather die than be in the hands of the German," Richard sighed. Rosa gasped.

"Don't say that! You and me, we'll get through this," Rosa frowned "We will go dancing, you me, the Captain and even Major Stewart! We will go dancing and have fun," She smiled. She could see the life fading in Richard's eyes; but she wasn't going to let him go.

Rosa put every ounce of strength she had into her voice. She called out for help.

"Help! Somebody help me please!" She called "I can't say goodbye to you, Richard, please stay with me," Rosa pleaded.

Richard smiled "Then let's not say goodbye, because I know that I will see you again," Rosa nodded.

"Alright then, I will see you later," She smiled. Richard closed his eyes, his smiled lingering upon his lips.

"I will see you soon, Rosa,"

Within a minute or two, someone had made their way over to where Rosa and Richard lay on the grass.

"Ma'am?" The man asked in confusion. Rosa let out a sigh of relief when she heard the man's British accent.

She slowly tried to sit up.

"Please, sir, you have to help my friend; he is severely injured," Rosa said. She hadn't let go of Richard's hand.

She didn't realize that he was no longer grasping hers

The soldier knelt down beside Richard, pressing his fingers to his neck.

Rosa thought the man looked to be in reasonably good health; he had a few cuts and scrapes on his face and his uniform was ripped in places, but all up he looked fairly unharmed.

The clouds had finally let go; raining their tears over the battlefield.

"Ma'am," The soldier said as he stood up "He has passed on,"

Rosa looked at her fellow soldier in shock. Did she hear him correctly?

She began to cry. She let out all her painful emotions, shifting on the now muddy ground to be closer to Richard. Her friend.

In her mind, Rosa had lost everything. She had lost her horse, her friend, James, she had no idea where he was. Her plan had gone terribly wrong and she couldn't do anything about it. Rosa hadn't considered all the factors when she had mounted her horse in the long grass. She simply planned to let James know of her presence and while charging she would 'accidently' knock him off his horse.

She hadn't even thought that part through. He could have died if she had knocked him off his horse. He could have been trampled by the many other horses following closely behind him.

Rosa sat in the mud for a good half an hour, weeping over everything. She didn't even notice the small group of men standing behind her.

"Ma'am," One man said. She recognized his gruff voice. Rosa turned her head to look at the man.

He took his hat off and hung his head. It was Major Stewart.

"We are so sorry for your loss," He said somberly.

Rosa wiped her eyes with her wet sleeve. Gathering her vocal strength she asked the Major a question that had been on her mind ever since she fell from her horse.

"Where is James?"

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_**Review! :)**_


	22. Smile again :)

_**Well, here's chapter Twenty two :) I wrote this chapter out at school in my 'free' spell yesterday and today.**_

Who here loves 30 Seconds to mars? Are you apart of the Echelon? Did you hear their newest song 'up in the air'? IT IS AMAZING! That band never fails to amaze me c: I had the biggest freak out when I listened to it, my feels were up in the air :P 

_**Lol, anyway, I also wanted to mention that this story is probably going to come to an end soon, there might be a few more chapters left, but I am thinking about writing a sequel, so if you are interested in that idea PM me and let me know :)**_

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CHAPTER TWENTY TWO:

"Where is James?" Rosa asked, her stomach threatening to empty its contents. She felt her chest clench in a way she didn't like.

_Where is he?_ She thought _why aren't they telling me anything?_

Rosa was beginning to panic, she needed him, she needed her fiancé.

"I will need you to come with me, miss," Major Stewart said; his voice was laced with pain, but his face remained stern. Rosa reluctantly got to her feet, she didn't want to go with the Major, but she knew he had the answers she sought to have answered. Rosa also knew it wasn't safe on the open field; the Germans could launch another attack any moment.

Rosa suddenly realized that she hadn't said her final goodbye to Richard… not that he would be able to reply… but it would give Rosa some comfort. She abruptly stopped walking with the Major and turned to make her way back to Richard's lifeless body, but she was startled to find only grass.

"Excuse me, sir," Rosa said, drawing Major Stewart's attention "But there was a man there," She said, pointing to an empty spot on the dewy field.

"He has probably been collected," The Major said, resentment in his voice "I must insist that we move along, it is still not safe out here," He said. Rosa nodded and trudged along behind him. Her wounds were hurting but she knew it was probably nothing compared to the wounds other men must have sustained.

Rosa was hoisted up onto a horse with Major Stewart riding closely beside her on Topthorn. Rosa decided not to bring up the topic of James as she rode alongside the Major. James was the Major's friend, if James was gone, Rosa was sure the Major would be just as hurt as she was.

Her mind was a mess. Thoughts and memories ran across her mind, dancing and playing with her emotions. She thought of the time she spent with James, from the time of their first meeting up until the last time she saw him on the battle field. Rosa knew she had hurt James' emotions with her actions, but she could only pray that her actions hadn't got him seriously injured, or worse. Rosa decided to push those horrid thoughts out of her mind; it did no good to think as such.

The road back to the camp seemed to take longer than the road to the battle field. Rosa and Major Stewart were being followed by what was left of the cavalry, the injured being carried on horseback; make shift carts and stretchers, even in the arms of some of the healthier looking men.

Rosa had taken a course in history, her strong points were the wars, but up until now she hadn't fully understood what it was like personally for all those soldiers. Rosa knew what it was like now, to witness friends being shot down all around you, she also knew what it was like to worry for someone you loved; for all the mothers, wives, and siblings that the soldiers had at home, it was torture not knowing if the one you loved was alive or not.

When they finally arrived back at the camp, the Major was still silent. Rosa was about to ask him about James, but a younger looking man hastily made his way up to the Major. He was about to speak until he spotted Rosa.

"Major Stewart, may I have a word with you in private?" He asked. Rosa rolled her eyes and walked over to the temporary stables about fifty meters from where she had previously stood with the Major. She looked over the horses, silently hoping to find her own horse among them. He had been a gift from Richard, a gift she still hadn't named.  
Rosa desperately hoped that her horse was alright. _Speaking of horses, where is Joey?_ Rosa thought. She looked around the camp but couldn't see any hint of the stallions' shinny brown coat. Joey was the sole purpose James re-entered the war; he would be even more hurt to find out that Joey had gone missing once again.

Rosa's mind kept flickering back to her deceased friend. She had never had a friend die, so she never truly understood the pain people went through when losing someone so close to them. The thought of Richard made Rosa's heart hurt, as much as it hurt her when thinking of James, whom she still didn't know where he was.

Rosa suddenly remembered the way Richard's body strangely disappeared… perhaps someone had picked up his body… or perhaps-

"Miss Miller, I believe you would like to know of the Captain?" Major Stewart asked, pulling Rosa from her thoughts.

"Yes, I would like to know," She said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"May I ask you a question first?" The Major asked. He looked sad, yet he stood tall.

"By all means," Rosa nodded. Major Stewart shifted his weight from one foot to the other and clasped his hands behind his back.

"What is a woman, such as you, doing in the middle of a war?" He asked his voice a bit more gruff. Rosa sighed.

"To tell you the truth, Major, I don't know anymore. I had intended to save the life of the man I love more dearly than life itself, but I fear I have only put him in more risk," She confessed. Rosa looked away from Major Stewarts piercing gaze.

"Come with me," He said sternly, turning on his heel and walking back towards the temporary barracks. Rosa silently obeyed and trudged along after him.

Major Stewart had led Rosa through to the other side of the temporary barracks and into a building that looked far cleaner than all the rest.

It was the hospital wing.

Rosa perked up slightly, her eyes roaming ever bed lining the walls, she searched for her love. The men she saw in the beds looked terribly injured, she knew half of them wouldn't make it through the night.

Major Stewart had stopped in front of a curtain, separating a single bed from the rest. Rosa noticed that the drapes were slightly ajar and she could see the gleam of shiny metal from a cot. Then someone stirred inside.

Rosa entered through the curtain without any hesitation. Her eyes welled up with tears at the sight before her.

It was James

He looked terrible; his hair was muddy and disheveled. His left arm was in a sling and his chest was bare, exposing a white bandage wrapped around his midsection. Rosa then looked over the rest of his body; his legs were covered by a thin cotton blanket. He had two visibly deep cuts on his right bicep and many scrapes and bruises, creating patterns along his forearms. Rosa finally looked at his face. His usually smooth, pale skin was covered in mud and cuts, his lips were chapped and there was dried blood running from a gash in his hairline to his sharp jawline on the left side of his face. Yet, throughout all his injuries, James' eyes remained the same beautiful glistening blue.

"Ro-Rosa?" James croaked, trying to sit up. Rosa moved to his side as he winced in pain.

"Don't move, my love," She said "We are safe," She smiled. Her smile was enough to fuel James' own smile.

"And so are you," He said. He frowned for a moment and slowly moved his hand up to brush Rosa's cheek.

"You are hurt," He said. Rosa quickly remembered that her own injuries had not yet been treated.

"I'm sure there are far more important injuries that have not yet been tended to; mine can wait," Rosa said. James looked behind Rosa.

"Jamie, will you please find someone to clean Rosa's injuries?" He asked. Major Stewart nodded and motioned for Rosa to follow him.

"It is a good thing you came to me now, miss, otherwise these wounds would have turned sour and you would be fighting a terrible infection," The nurse said. Rosa winced as she bandaged up her shoulder.

"What of Captain Nicholls injuries?" Rosa asked "Will he be alright?"

"He will be fine, dear, the Captain just needs some rest and plenty of care," She smiled.

Once Rosa's injuries were cleaned up, Rosa quickly made her way back to James' bedside. His eyes were closed. Rosa looked to his chest immediately; thankfully her eyes were greeted by the constant rise and fall. He was merely sleeping.

"I believe it would be wise of you to get some rest as well, Miss Miller," Major Stewart suggested. Rosa nodded.

I will sleep, but I will not leave his side," She said; the Major nodded and turned to leave, but not before saying one last thing to Rosa.

"James is lucky to have someone as strong and faithful as you, Miss Miller," And then he left.

Rosa smiled to herself as she took a seat in the chair beside James's bed. She took hold of his hand and let his steady breathing lull her to sleep.

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_**Review! :)**_


	23. Home sweet home

_**Hello :) I wrote most of this chapter out at school today as I did with my previous one, on my 'free' spell :P School is crazy at the moment, I have a bunch of assessments due soon, speeches coming up (Which I haven't even started to write yet :L) and I have to practice for stage challenge which is here in nine weeks! I wanted to get this chapter up though, so I sacrificed a little school time to write it c:  
Oh my god! Almost 70 reviews for this story! I didn't think it would get that much at all! it probably isn't much compared to the amount some other stories get, but I am super happy :D *fist pump moment***_

_**Anyway, here's the next chapter c:**_

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CHAPTER TWENTY THREE:

James shot up in bed, sweating uncontrollably. A dream plagued his mind and he couldn't shake it away. He felt something tighten on his hand, he looked down to find a head of blonde hair lying beside his unbroken arm. Rosa was holding his hand firmly as she slept. James hadn't had a chance to properly look at Rosa's hair; she had cut it. Rosa awoke when James lightly brushed his fingers through her short locks; he couldn't resist.

"What time is it?" She asked with a yawn. James shrugged; he had only really just woken up himself.

"Morning I presume," He smiled. At that moment, the curtains surrounding James' bed flew open, revealing a rather angry looking Major Stewart.

"Miss Miller, a word please," He said and then abruptly turned away. Rosa reluctantly stood, stretching a little. Before following the Major, she leant down and kissed James' forehead.

"I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but I promise I will tell you everything," Rosa sighed before turning to follow after the Major.

She was in Major Stewart's office and he was fuming.

"I hope you understand how severe the consequences are for lying to your commanding officer, not to mention the officer that signed you on and all the men whom you fought with," He said "It is a very serious offence!"

Rosa nodded "I know, but to me, saving James was my number one priority," she said "I had to at least try and do something so that he wouldn't die and it seems as if my presence there was enough to keep him alive, besides, I would be going crazy right now if I sat at home not knowing whether or not he was alive," She added.

Major Stewart sighed and sat down behind his large desk.

"Well, I am ordered to punish you for your offence," He said. Rosa nodded, keeping her eyes on her feet. After a few more moments the Major spoke up again.

"You are to take care of Captain Nicholls, make sure he returns to full health; if I don't see a smile on that man's face when we next meet, there will be more consequences," Major Stewart said sternly "Now, go and explain yourself to the lad," He added in a more softer tone. Rosa looked up and smiled at the Major, before turning and leaving the room.

Rosa spent the rest of the morning explaining everything to James. She explained why she had joined the cavalry for him, what she had gone through whilst being in the training camp. She explained to him about Richard and her horse. James seemed to understand why Rosa did what she did, but he still found it to be a reckless act, even if it was out of love. He forgave her though, he could never stay mad at her.

A week after the charge, James was allowed out of the temporary hospital. The Major allowed him to return home, saying that he would only get himself killed if he stayed. Rosa was also told to leave as the war was no place for a woman.

As James and Rosa were driven back to James' parent's house, Rosa thought of how she ran away from them.

"What should we tell you parents? I did, after all, run away," She said.

"Well, we could say that your brother was killed in battle and you needed time to mourn by yourself," James said "And I will say that I saw you heading this way as I drove by, so I picked you up," He added. James was good at coming up with excuses, even though it seemed completely alien to associate him with it.

It wasn't much longer until the couple reached the large Victorian home. It hadn't changed in appearance much over the past few months, but the leaves on the trees were falling. They were going to be in for a cold winter.

Just as the car stopped in front of the house, James' mother came rushing out of the house, skirts flying around her ankles. She was followed closely by her husband, James' step-father.

"Oh my boy! It is so good to have you home again!" Diana wailed, smothering her son in hugs and kisses.

"And you too Rosa! We were so worried about you!" Diana said, now turning and giving her affection to Rosa.

"I am so sorry for leaving without telling you, Diana, I am afraid that I went to my old house in hope of finding a letter from my brother," Rosa began, trying to act a little choked up "I found a letter, sadly not from him. I learnt that my dear brother was killed in battle and I needed to mourn for him alone, that is why I did not return, until now," Rosa explained. Diana had tears in her eyes.

"Oh dear, I am so sorry for your loss," She said, pulling Rosa into a tight, loving hug.

"Come, let us go inside where it is warmer, winter will be upon us soon," James' step father said. He helped James ascend the steps leading to the front door; Rosa had learnt that his leg had acquired a rather nasty gash.

Diana had told James he was to remain in bed until he healed some more. Rosa stayed with him to fulfill her 'punishment' given by the Major. James protested at first, as he thought that it wouldn't be proper for Rosa to see him in such a state of undress, as he was only in a thin night shirt and pants; Rosa told him not to be silly, and made sure James was content and comfortable. She brought him food when he needed it, more blankets when he shivered and her company when he asked for it, which he always did.

"I think your mother is happy to have you home; she is in the kitchen cooking up a storm of pastries and cakes," Rosa smirked. James chuckled.

"I think she is happy that the both of us are here, she was very worried when she wrote to me," James frowned, suddenly realizing something.

"You know, I should have realized sooner that you had tried to sign up for the army; my mother had mentioned in one of her letters to me that you had left, saying that you were going to find word on your brother," He explained, and then in a more hushed tone: "Which I know doesn't exist in this time,"

"I said I was sorry," Rosa said sheepishly. James chuckled.

"And I forgave you," He smiled and reached out for her hand "You are very sneaky, aren't you? I can't believe that you cut all of your beautiful hair off to try and pass as a man, I can't believe it worked!" He laughed. Rosa smiled.

"It was painful, cutting my hair, but I had to do it," She shrugged and climbed onto the bed beside James. He wrapped his unbroken arm around her shoulders, it had healed greatly already.

"You still look just as beautiful with short hair," He smiled.

"You think so? You would marry a woman who cut off her hair?" She asked, fingering bits of her shoulder length hair, Diana had insisted she fix it up for Rosa so that it was as scraggly and wild. Rosa let her, thankful for her kindness.

"I would gladly marry you even if you had no hair at all!" James smiled, kissing her nose.

The week went by quickly; the news of the war taking place in France only seemed to get worse. As the weather got colder, the people seemed to do the same. Trench warfare was said to be worst of all. There had been many reports of mustard gas and even possibility of there being an attack on Britain if the Germans took over France.

Rosa knew how the war would turn out, as she had done an entire course on it; but she still feared that her travelling back in time had interfered with some things to do with the Great War.

Rosa gazed out of James' bedroom window as he slept. The morning was cold and frosty, the distant hills were foggy. Rosa thought of her horse. She missed the beast; it was a gift from Richard, her one and only friend in the cavalry. She wondered if her horse was still alive, if he was alive, would he be able to live through the winter? Horrible thoughts plagued her mind, only the distant sound of knocking was able to pull her form her thoughts.

Rosa moved across to the door of James' room and briefly opened it to peak outside. She could hear voices coming from down the hall and decided to find out who it was. Rosa silently shut James' door, as to not disturb him from his sleep.

"I hear he is well?" A familiar male voice asked.

"Yes, he seems to be recovering finely," Diana said. As Rosa got closer to the front door she noticed that it was in fact Major Stewart at the door.

"Ah, Miss Miller, how do you fare?" The Major asked.

"I am well, and yourself?" Rosa smiled politely.

"I could be better, this war seems to be bringing out the worst in people," He sighed.

"How come you are not in France currently?" Diana asked curiously.

"Our camp was attacked not long after James' departure and we weren't able to hold it; so we had to retreat," The Major said regretfully "I am afraid that much of France has been taken and we were told to prepare to defend our home," He said.

"That is rather bad news indeed," Diana sighed. Major Stewart nodded and then turned his attention on Rosa.

"Would I be able to have a private word with Miss Miller, ma'am?" He asked Diana.

"Yes of course, the study is free," Diana said, stepping aside to let the Major past.

Once the door was shut, the Major began to speak.

"We have found Joey, James' horse," He said. Rosa nearly screamed with happiness. James had been worried about his stallion, he had wanted to return it to Albert, Joey was the whole reason James re-entered the war.

"He will be overjoyed to hear that Joey is safe," Rosa smiled calmly. She paused for a moment before continuing to speak "Do you know anything of my horse?" She asked hesitantly. Major Stewart sighed.

"Yes, however, my superiors have announced that all horses belonging to anyone who passed away in battle will be auctioned off. Unfortunately Private Jeremy Williams was killed in the midst of battle," He said. Rosa's heart broke. Her horse was alive, but she wouldn't get him back.

"Who will the horses be auctioned to?" She asked solemnly.

"Anyone who shows up in the town square tomorrow morning," The Major said, he put his uniform cap on his head and turned to face her fully.

"I think it would be wise to get yourself a horse, Miss Miller, I know when James is fully recovered her will be wanting to ride the fields," And with that, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Rosa sighed and slumped in the chair in front of the study desk. She wanted her horse, but she didn't have any money to buy a horse.

That was until she noticed the small sack sitting on the desk top.

"Why do you want to go into town so urgently?" Diana asked as she rode with Rosa in the family carriage. It was far too cold outside to walk.

"My brother's horse is being sold at auction and I wish to bid for him, my brother loved his horse dearly," Rosa said.

The market was buzzing with people, considering how cold it was. Rosa didn't know exactly where the town square was, but thankfully she had Diana to guide her. They found the auction almost immediately. A sturdy black horse was being sold for eight pounds. Rosa scanned the stables, spotting her horse, she smiled. He had been cleaned up nicely since the battle.

Rosa rushed over to the show pen as her horse was brought out of the stable. She quickly counted the money she had been given by Major Stewart the previous day. There was a total of fifteen pounds; horses didn't usually sell for more than that. Hopefully no one would want to bid on her horse, he wasn't, after all, the biggest or even the strongest horse in the stable.

"Who would like to start the off the bet for this mighty fine horse?" The auctioneer asked.

"Three pounds," A man in the crowd called.

"Four pounds," Rosa called.

"Six!" Another male voice called.

"Nine!" Rosa quickly shouted, lifting her hand up so the auctioneer could see her.

"Eleven pounds!" The first man called out. Rosa frowned, she didn't think her horse was worth much more than ten pounds.

"Fifteen ponds!" Rosa called out, putting the rest of the money she had on the line. The square went quiet for a while. Then Rosa heard what she dreaded to hear when she arrived at the auction.

"Nineteen pounds!" She was outbid by the first man. Her horse was lost, the horse that Richard had brought for her in this very square.

"Twenty two pounds and let that be the end of it!" A female voice called. It was Diana.

"This horse belonged to this woman's brother, he died recently in the war. This horse meant everything to her brother and his family, let him be at peace knowing that his steed is safe in his family's hands," She argued. Her words were more powerful than they seemed. The whole square remained silent.

Only the sudden crack of wood on wood was heard.

"Sold!" The auctioneer called.

The auction was over, Rosa had won.

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_**Review! :)**_


	24. Let's get out of here

_**Who here ate chocolate all weekend and is feeling sick? *Raises hand* I went on a huge bike ride today to try and burn off some of the many calories I ate over the weekend, my legs are now dead and I don't think it burnt off much -.- But having sore legs meant that I could sit down (Thank god!) and write up this chapter :D I don't think it's that great, but I plan to have the wedding in the next chapter and James taking Joey back will be the last chapter... Oh my god, this story is almost finished! I'm both excited and sad... but I will be writing a sequel c:  
I will try to finish this story by next week and probably start the sequel in my school holidays (Just so I can get heaps of school work done :L)  
Anyway, even though this chapter is fairly short, I hope you enjoy it c:**_

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__CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR:

"I think I will call him Strider," Rosa smiled, leading her horse out of the stables.

"Strider? Well, that's an interesting name," James chuckled.

"He was my favorite character in the Lord of the rings," Rosa smirked "Alongside Legolas," She added.

"Lord of the Rings? Is this another one of your television programs?" James asked, tugging slightly on Joey's reins.

"It's a movie, a trilogy! Three amazing movies that were shot in New Zealand," Rosa grinned.

"They sent some troops to help out with the war! A small island country am I correct?" James asked. Rosa nodded.

James had gotten significantly better over the past couple of days. Especially since Rosa had won her horse back at the auction. Perhaps it was because he now had someone to ride with, or perhaps he was just sick of being bed ridden.

"I will have to return Joey soon, I must write to Albert later to inform him," James said.

"Well, you can enjoy another ride with dear Joey before you give him back; I'm sure Albert wouldn't mind," Rosa smiled. James smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I will miss Joey, he is a very remarkable horse," James said proudly, patting Joey's neck.

They rode across the back fields, far away from the house; all the way out to a cliff face looking out over the ocean. It was late in the afternoon, but there was still a lot of day light left.

James and Rosa tied Joey and Strider to a nearby tree so they wouldn't gallop off and leave the couple stranded miles away from home. Rosa and James then sat on the grass a few meters away from the edge of the cliff.

"I don't think I have been able to properly relax like this in a very long time," James smiled.

"Since I you found out that I came back in time with you?" Rosa asked. James nodded.

"Yes, but mostly since I first left you to go back into the war," He said, a slight frown gracing his eye brows.

"Well, at least we don't have to go back to it now; you got Joey back and you are alive," Rosa sighed.

"What happens?" James asked. Rosa looked at him confused.

"What?" She asked.

"What happens, in the war, from this point," James asked "Jamie told me the other day that the remaining members of our cavalry group, and many other men, have been pulled out of France to defend our home," He added.

"Well, Germany has plans to take Paris, they think that if they take the capital they will have won the war, but soon British and French forces will join and push the German army back a few kilometers and begin a lot of trench warfare," Rosa explained "Don't worry, the allies win the war," She reassured him.

"I hope that is so," James sighed "I can't stand to be around war for much longer,"

"Well, we could always get out of here," Rosa suggested. James looked down at her.

"Where would we go? Nowhere is particularly safe in times of war," He said.

"What about my century? We could go back to 2012, which is probably 2013 by now, and forget about it all," Rosa shrugged. James smiled.

"We will go back, but there are things that need to be done here first," He sighed "I must return Joey to Albert," He said, pausing for a while "And my parents will want to see us married before we go away," He added, looking down at the grass.

"We can get married here," Rosa smiled "We could do that and then return Joey and then travel to my century," Rosa suggested.

"What about your family? Surely they will want to attend the wedding," James said, slightly shocked. Rosa smirked.

"We could have two weddings, one here for your family and one in the future, for my family," She shrugged. James leaned in and kissed her.

"You are brilliant, dear," He smiled and helped her to her feet.

"Me? Brilliant? Look at you! Your arm is still mending and you are out here on horseback," Rosa laughed and shook her head.

"You know I couldn't stand to be in my room any longer, the fresh air is so much better," He said, taking in a dramatically deep breathe.

"Oh look!" Rosa said, pointing out towards the ocean. The sun was half set in the water, casting a magnificent orange glow on the sky.

"Marvelous!" James grinned.

James and Rosa made it back to the house just before the sky was completely black. Diana made a bit of a fuss about them not being back before dinner, but James was able to change the subject immediately by saying a few simple words.

"Mother, Rosa and I want to get married as soon as possible," He said. Diana's jaw dropped. She knew about his proposal before James went into war, but she didn't think that they would actually end up getting married.

"Of course!" She shrieked, a huge smile spread across her face "When were you planning to wed?" She asked. James' step father entered the room.

"What's all the commotion about?" He asked, a pipe hanging from his mouth.

"James and Rosa want to get married soon," Diana shrieked, giving her husband an excited hug.

"We were thinking next week if it's possible," James shrugged, smiling down at Rosa. He had his good arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Oh that is soon!" William chuckled. Diana gasped.

"You won't have enough time to invite all your guests!" Diana said. James shook his head.

"We only want it to be small, just you and a few friends from the army, if they are available," James said. Rosa felt something tear at her heart.

_Richard is a friend form the army, if only he were able to attend_ she thought grimly. Richard almost felt like a brother to Rosa, Nick had always been there for here back when she was living in America, but Richard was different.

"I will talk to the Priest tomorrow morning when I go into town," Diana said "And perhaps in the afternoon Rosa and I can go dress shopping!" She said excitedly. Rosa smiled and embraced Diana in a friendly hug.

"Thank you, Diana, I am glad that you are as excited as we are," She said.

"My son is marrying a beautiful girl! I couldn't be happier, dear," Diana smiled and turned to her husband.

"We must talk," She said with a big grin. William nodded and left the room behind Diana.

"Well, that went well," Rosa sighed and slumped down on her bed. James sat on the window seat. Even though they were getting married by the end of next week, he still thought it improper to be in a ladies room.

"Indeed, my mother seems very happy for us," He smiled at her. Rosa stood up and walked over to the window seat and sat down next to her fiancé.

"You know, I could never see myself getting married," Rosa said "But with you, it is entirely different," she added "I want you to officially be all mine,"

James chuckled and held her hands "I want you to officially be mine," He smirked. Rosa leaned up to give him a delicate kiss. James was a little taken aback by the suddenness,  
but he didn't protest, instead he kissed her back, a little more passionately. Rosa shifted her weight so that she was sitting on James' lap, never once breaking contact from his lips. James rested one hand firmly on her hips, pulling her closer into his chest. Rosa wrapped her hands around his neck, playing with the short hair on the back of his head. James chuckled.

"I believe it is getting late, my love," James murmured against Rosa's lips.

"It isn't late at all," Rosa frowned, pulling away slightly to look at James's face. He chuckled and gently moved her legs off of his.

"You're right, but I don't think it wise if I stay in here alone with you any longer," He said, his cheeks flamed red and he averted his gaze to the floor.

"Oh," Rosa laughed lightly. She stood up and hugged him; resting her head on his chest.

"Perhaps we can continue this on our wedding night," James said, running his hand up and down her back gently. Rosa nodded.

"I respect your values," She smiled. James placed a chaste kiss on her cheek before bidding her a goodnight and leaving her room.

Rosa suddenly felt even more excited for her wedding.

Everything would be perfect.

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_**Review! :)**_


	25. Endings always lead to new beginnings

_**First of all I want to apologise for my very slow update! This week was my last week of school before the holidays... and a lot of my classes decided that they would like to have assessments due in the same time! I had to do a speech for English which I hadn't even began to write until Monday last week -.- and I also had a big classics assessment that I had to hand in yesterday :L On top of all of that I had to go and find a formal dress and also attend practices for my schools stage challenge! It has been a crazy couple of weeks and I apologise once again for the delay in updating!**_

_**(PLEASE READ)**_

_**Secondly I want you to all know that this is the last chapter! YAY! :D I will be putting up an epilogue in the next couple of days though... but other than that this story is pretty much done ;( I want to say a huge THANKYOU to all of you who have favourite, followed and reviewed this story, I have had such a good time writing it and reading your feedback, it is my first completed story by the way :D, but yeah, THANK YOU SO MUCH!**_

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CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE:

Today was the day, the day the waiting was finally over. Today was the day Rosa and James were getting married!

Diana had spoken to the priest and arranged for the couple to be wed on a Friday afternoon; she had also taken Rosa shopping as she had promised. Rosa had chosen a dress that flattered every part of her body elegantly; it was all white and had long sleeves and a high collar; as was the fashion of the time period. The sleeves were made of a thin lace material, woven into an intricate pattern, and were see-through. The bodice of the dress hugged her waist nicely and was covered in the same lacey material, but wasn't see-through, and the skirt was a plain white fabric, that flowed out from her hips straight to the floor.

Rosa was so excited that she couldn't even hold her tea cup without shaking. This was the day she had been waiting for ever since she was a little girl. When she was twelve she had planned what she had wanted her wedding to be like; she imagined that her dress would be huge and puffy like a princess's and that she would ride down the aisle on horseback to her prince charming in a beautiful forest somewhere near a waterfall. She imagined that she would have a huge bouquet of flowers, white roses to be exact, and also she imagined having thirty maids running around getting her ready and doing her hair and makeup.  
What was happening around her was nothing like she had planned when she was younger. Diana and Sarah had to account for her thirty maids, doing her hair and makeup and helping her into her dress. Also, she wouldn't be riding down the aisle on a horse as the wedding was to be held in a chapel. Her dress also wasn't a big puffy princess dress and her intended wasn't a prince… he was charming though.  
Never the less, Rosa was completely ecstatic and grateful for what was happening. She couldn't believe that it was actually happening though!

Sarah had just finished lacing up Rosa's dress, while Diana took Rosa's tea cup and placed it on the dresser.

"You look lovely, dear," Diana smiled happily as she looked over her daughter in law. She took Rosa's veil off her bed and placed it on top of her head. Her hair had been tied up in a half up do, thanks to Sarah.

"There, you are ready," Diana smiled and stepped back to admire Rosa; Sarah joined her and nodded approvingly.

"You look beautiful, Rosa, I'm sure you are going to take his breath away," She said. Rosa laughed nervously. The time drew nearer and nearer.

"Thank you both so much for this, I will be eternally grateful," Rosa smiled. Diana stepped closer to Rosa and hugged her.

"You are most welcome dear; just watch out for my son, he is a little mischief that one," Diana smiled, tears forming in her eyes.

"I won't let anything happen to him," Rosa reassured her soon to be mother in law. Diana nodded.

"Alright, let's get you married!" She grinned and moved out of the door, Sarah followed her; Rosa was the last to exit her bedroom. She wouldn't be sleeping in it ever again.

"Excited Captain?" Charlie asked as he stood next to James. James turned to look at his friend.

"Very," He said simply with a grin. Charlie had kindly agreed to be James' best man, as Major Stewart had war business to attend to and didn't know if he would be able to make it to the wedding. Thankfully, or not so thankfully, Charlie had sustained a few big injuries in the cavalry charge in France all those weeks ago and was still recovering somewhat. He had gotten a bullet wound to the leg and was forced to hobble around on crutches for a while.

James stood nervously at the end of the aisle, waiting for Rosa. He was excited to finally marry her; he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the woman and couldn't wait for it to begin. In the meantime, he looked over the faces of the few people who had been able to attend. It was far more than he expected. Most of the people James had met at his parent's house parties and at events in town; the others were members of his family, like aunts and uncles who had been able to attend.

All of a sudden music began to play from the large organ behind him. He looked eagerly to the door; everyone in the chapel turned their heads to get a glimpse of Rosa as she walked in.

James' jaw dropped when he saw Rosa. She looked beautiful in her dress. However, he couldn't see her face clearly as it was covered by a large veil. He wanted to do nothing but remove it so that he could see her face.

Rosa walked at an even pace down the aisle, towards James. His mouth was hanging open slightly, but he eventually shut it when he had realized. He looked amazing in his black suit his hair was slicked back and he had a white rose in his lapel that matched Rosa's bouquet of white Roses; she had always loved white roses, which is why she wanted them in her childhood imagined wedding.

Rosa took a few steps up to stand next to James at the altar, he gently took her hand to help her up and he didn't let go of them.

"We are gathered here today…" The priest began. Rosa didn't pay much attention to him; she couldn't take her eyes off James. His eyes looked so much more peaceful and happy than they did when he was in the hospital ward. Rosa could tell that he was as nervous and excited as she was, his beautiful eyes gave away everything in those few moments, it seemed; that they stood there hand in hand.

The next words Rosa heard were those coming from James.

"I, James Nicholls, take you, Rosa Miller, to be my lawfully wedded wife, my constant friend, my faithful partner, and my love from this day forward," He said, sliding a gold ring onto her finger.

Rosa smiled and took a deep breath before stating her vows.

"I, Rosa Miller, take you, James Nicholls, to be my lawfully wedded husband; I commit to never leave you, to follow you. For where you go, I shall go, and where you remain, I shall remain, I promise to be forever faithful to you and to love you even after death do us part," Rosa said, tears welling in her eyes. She gave James' hands a gentle squeeze before the priest spoke again.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride," He said. James didn't hesitate for a moment. He immediately lifted the veil off Rosa's face and gazed into her eyes.

"I love you," He whispered. Rosa smiled, her cheeks tinting red.

"I love you too," She said. James leaned down slightly and pressed his lips to hers, tenderly. An eruption of clapping and cheers came from the crowd the moment their lips touched.

Rosa smiled against James' lips. Someone from the crowd yelled out across the chapel.

"Alright, that's enough you two!" It was a man's voice. Rosa and James pulled away from each other to look for this person. James' eyes immediately focused on the back of the room by the door.

There, standing in his uniform, was Major Stewart. _So he had been able to come after all_ Rosa thought to herself. People had begun to move outside to line the path leading from the chapel entrance to a carriage that was waiting for the newlyweds.

James gave a nod to Jamie as he and Rosa made their way hand in hand down the aisle together. As they walked between the rows of guests, rice was thrown on them and congratulations and thanks exchanged quickly.

Rosa and James were heading back to James' parents' house. From there they would change clothing and prepare to take Joey back home to Albert. They would first say goodbye to all of their friends in this time period before finally disappearing back to the future.

Sarah helped Rosa out of her wedding dress when she and James' parents arrived home. Rosa changed into a light blue dress that was comfortable enough to ride in. She would miss being able to dress like this… but then again, jeans and a t-shirt sounded pretty comfortable…

Rosa left her hair up but took her veil off. She set it on the bed as James poked his head around the door frame.

"You look lovely, Mrs. Nicholls," He smirked as he crossed the room and hugged Rosa.

"Why thank you, my husband," Rosa giggled and wrapped her arms around James' waist. He had changed into a simple pair of grey pants and a light blue shirt.

"Are you almost ready?" He asked, looking down at her. Rosa nodded.

"Almost, I think all that is left is to say goodbye to everyone," She sighed "Are you one hundred percent sure that you want to do this?" She asked him. James nodded.

"I am sure," He smiled and placed a small kiss on the end of her nose "Now, let's go then," He said and led her out of the room.

"So, you are going to take Joey back… and stay… where?" Diana asked, confused.

"We will take Joey back to Albert, and will stay overnight in an inn somewhere in town," James explained "From there we are going to travel North until we find a house we like," He said.

"What if you don't find a house soon? What if there are none you like? You can't stay at the inns until you have found a house," Diana protested.

"It's fine, James and Rosa are welcome to stay with my parents in Somerset, it is close to Devon," Charlie interrupted.

Diana sighed and nodded.

"Alright, I just don't want to see my baby boy leave!" Diana sobbed as she brought James into a loving hug.

"I have to move out one day, mother, I have a beautiful wife to take care of now," James smiled and took a step back. Diana smiled and pulled Rosa into a hug.

"You both will be missed dearly! You must write to me constantly!" She smiled and stepped back.

"We will, mother," James smiled.

Everybody went outside to say goodbye. James' step father had brought Joey and Strider out from the stables. They were saddled up and ready to go as soon as Rosa and James had said goodbye to everyone.

"Sarah, please don't cry! You have been the most caring friend I have ever had," Rosa smiled and hugged Sarah.

"I will miss you, Rosa; you also have been a great friend!" Sarah sobbed "You must write to me when you get the chance," She said. Rosa nodded and then turned to say goodbye to the next person. It was Charlie.

"Goodbye Charlie," Rosa smiled. Charlie kissed her hand and bowed to her in a gentlemanly fashion.

"You will be missed by many around here," He said and stepped aside to speak with James.

Rosa stood by her horse as Major Stewart made his way over.

"Well, Mrs. Nicholls, I want to congratulate you on your marriage. James is a wonderful man and I hope you take care of him well, for he revered friend of mine," the Major smiled "The two of you truly belong together, and I am happy for the both of you," He added before kissing her hand in the same gentlemanly fashion Charlie did.

James and Rosa eventually made it to their horses and were able to ride off in the direction of Devon; thankfully it wasn't too far away.

James looked a little saddened after the farewells, but he brightened up when Joey decided to pick up the pace and gallop off ahead of Rosa and Strider.

It took a few hours to get to Albert's house, but they made it there finally.

James opened the gate and let Rosa lead Strider in before closing it again behind them. Rosa was startled for a moment when a strange goose came running out from the house, squawking away. The goose was followed by an elderly man, women and finally a younger looking boy.

"Joey!" The younger boy called out, jogging up to the brown stallion. Rosa smiled as she realized who the boy must have been.

"Captain Nicholls, you were true to your word! Thank you so very, very much!" Albert said, firmly shaking James' hand.

"You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get him back to you; but I feel a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders now that he is back with his rightful owner," James said earnestly "I trust that you got the drawings I sent before we were shipped off to France?" James asked. Albert nodded.

"Yes indeed! But, it came with a message that you had been killed in battle, I was preparing to join in the war to find Joey, until now of course," Albert explained. James nodded.

"Yes, well, I was luckily discovered by a few comrades, my injuries weren't as bad as some of the other men in my battalion," James sighed 'However, they have put me out of the war for a long time; as you can see I am still recovering from a broken arm," He added, lifting up his arm to show the white bandage.

"Thank you so very much, Captain Nicholls, I will be forever grateful to you for protecting Joey," Albert smiled and petted Joey affectionately. Rosa smiled as she watched the exchange between the men. James had moved to talk with Albert's parents.

"Excuse me ma'am, I am afraid I have not introduced myself!" Albert said, moving over to Rose, making sure to keep one hand firmly wrapped around Joey's reins.

"I am Albert Narracott," He greeted her, shaking her hand awkwardly. Rosa shook it back.

"I am Rosa Mi- Nicholls, Rosa Nicholls," Rosa smiled. Albert's eyes widened.

"You are married to Captain Nicholls?" He asked. Rosa nodded.

"As of this afternoon," She said.

"Oh! I give you congratulations, Mrs. Nicholls!" Albert grinned widely.

After a few more introductions and brief story exchanges, James and Rosa were ready to leave the Narracott farm and Joey behind.

"We must be going now, I am afraid," James said, he had taken a few moments to pet Joey one last time.

"Look after him Albert, he is truly a wonderful horse," James said. Albert nodded.

"I will sir! I promise, thank you so very much!" He grinned. Rosa thought for a moment and looked to her own horse. Strider couldn't come to the future with her and James; she didn't have any room in her small apartment to keep a horse.

"Excuse me, Albert, Mr. and Mrs. Narracott, would I be able to ask a favour of you?" Rosa asked. The trio nodded.

"Would you look after my horse? Where we are going, he cannot come, I don't want to simply give him away to a stranger though, as he was my brother's horse, my brother who has passed away in the war," Rosa explained, adding in a few white lies "I would appreciate it if you would take care of him until we return one day," Rosa said.

"I will take care of your horse, ma'am, it is the least I can do," Albert smiled.

"Thank you so much, he is very important to me and I trust you, especially after seeing how much you care for horses, especially Joey," Rosa explained. She then said goodbye to her horse as well.

James and Rosa left the Narracott farm empty handed, but with a feeling in their hearts that their horses would be greatly cared for by the Narracotts. The newlyweds strolled for a while down a lane until they came to an area of trees. It was getting dark outside; the sun had already set behind the hills.

"Do you have the music box?" Rosa asked James. He nodded and pulled out the small box from his pocket.

"Are you ready?" He asked. Rosa nodded and leaned into her husband, who in return wrapped his arms securely around her

"Yes," She said, smiling into his chest. She heard the sweet tune, drowning out all that transpired around them. Suddenly, she felt herself spinning and being dragged toward a particular spot, a spot that she could not identify with any of her five senses.

In a sudden burst of light Rosa was in a place all too familiar but yet so foreign to her.

She and James were in her apartment.

* * *

_**Review! :)**_


	26. Epilogue: Can't say goodbye

EPILOGUE:

I was falling. I don't know what from or where to… all I knew is that I was being dragged down.

All I see around me is darkness. It scares me. I can't get away from it.

I can feel the darkness, it is a strange feeling, and I hate it.

I feel like I am being ripped apart, but at the same time it feels like I am being compacted into myself.

I have no sense of up or down. I am weightless… if it didn't hurt so much I might have been able to enjoy it.

I saw a light. It was a tiny pin prick or light in the darkness and all I wanted to do was to get to it.

A voice in my head told me not to look into the light… but I couldn't look anywhere else, it was almost hypnotic.

The light had grown to about the size of an eyeball in what seemed like hours of falling.

All I wanted to do was be out of this pain, surely my last goal would be to reach the light, and from there I would be relieved would I not?

All of a sudden the light grew. It kept growing and growing and growing, all the while the ripping sensation in my body intensified.

I tried to yell, but nothing came from my mouth.

I could see the light closer now. It looked like a picture, a portrait, of people standing, wearing strange dark clothing.

They looked very menacing.

I don't want to go into the light.

I don't want to face them. All I want is for this pain to go away.

Why won't it go away?

Suddenly everything began to twist and spin around me as the light drew nearer; the darkness became full of sickening colours and images. I could feel air rushing against my face, I knew it was a terrible feeling, but somehow it reminded me of something…

It reminded me of riding, a horse, yes! That's it, horse riding, that's what I was doing!

At least that is until I was shot.

I heard something… a voice

A woman's voice

It was beautiful and so familiar!

"I can't say goodbye to you…" I said, it sounded sad. I heard another voice, this one was male.

"…let's not say goodbye… I know I will see you again," It said. I know this voice! It is mine!

"I can't say goodbye to you, Richard,"

"…stay with me," she pleaded.

_Richard?_

That's when I stopped falling.

That's when the pain was eased.

That's when I could no longer sense anything.

Was I dead?

**_OK well this is officially it! I am both sad and happy :D Thank you all so much for following, favouriting and reviewing and simply reading this story, it makes me happy c: I LOVE YOU ALL! You give me the inspiration to write and write is what I shall do!_**

**_I am going to be writing a sequel to this story, I don't know when I will begin it or when I will upload it, as I am not 100% sure where I want to go with it (to be honest when I begun 'young hearts' I had almost no clue where I was going :L) but I do have ideas bouncing around in my head that need to be let out! So for all of you who are interested in the sequel (which I haven't thought of a name for yet :L) I will post something on this story to let you know when it's uploaded :)_**

**_Until then, bye c: and thank you!_**


	27. AUTHOR'S NOTE! (sorry to disappoint)

Hello:) just letting you all know that I won't be publishing the sequel to Young Hearts until the Christmas Holidays... I know, quite a long time, but I haven't forgotten about it! I just haven't been able to find the time to sit down and write it out, school has been a bitch and decided to give me a crap tonne of work to do over the holidays right now :L  
I have, however, made a blog on Tumblr for all of those who want to follow it :) It will slow for a while until I have finished all my school work AND figured out how to use the blog lol, but I will be posting this story and photos of what I Rosa looking like and all the other characters I have mentioned, I will also post the sequel on there when I begin to write it(:

Love you all xxx

Here's the link to the blog:) Sorry, I don't know how to put a link on my fanfic page, so copy and paste from this, but replace the *Dot* with a full stop(:

endingsalwaysleadtonewbeginnings***Dot***tumblr***Dot***com


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